Childhood Innocence
by I'mAGeekNotANerd
Summary: Stark talks Banner into making a shrink tank, but instead, it reverts Coulson into his five year old self. Ridiculous, messing around with all of the characters. I don't own Avengers and please read and review. Story gets darker later on, but I try to keep it light. ish.
1. Chapter 1: The Incident

Fury looked at the ground in front of himself in appalled disbelief, making the two men before him shuffle in embarrassment, looking down. Fury looked back up, expression still there.

"Tell me again..." he began slowly. "HOW THIS HAPPENED?!" At the loud voice the little boy seated on the floor between the three looked up, brown eyes wide, startled and slightly fearful. Fury sighed, rubbing his face and calling for another cup of coffee. The two scientists had better have a good explanation for this.

0000000

"Hey, how 'bout a shrink tank?" Stark asked abruptly, looking up from where he was doodling on a sheet of paper. Banner looked up at him and immediately seemed worried.

"I don't think we should be messing around with any more of your inventions, Tony," he began carefully. "Remember what happened when you tried to make a terminator?" Tony shrugged.

"Hey, it was a good idea, but the programming was just a bit too realistic! What could go wrong with a shrink tank?"

"I don't think that S.H.I.E.L.D would want us messing around with a shrink tank," Banner continued, purposefully evasive. "And i don't think that it matters that we're at your house, they'll find out about it and - "

"Hey!" Tony interrupted, holding his arms out at shoulder height. "A mini Fury." Bruce stopped mid sentence and closed his mouth, looking reluctantly thoughtful. "That's all i have to say." He sighed in frustrated interest, looking down and back up a grin on his face.

"Fine, let's do it."

"JARVIS?" Tony asked, turning around to face the room.

"Yes sir?"

"We're back in work mode."

"Yes sir." It may have been the radiologist's imagination, but the AI seemed to speak a bit too enthusiastically to be simply obeying orders.

0000000

Pepper's eyes widened as she saw the amount of paperwork that she had to run by Tony. With Banner around, that was virtually impossible: Tony got sucked into his own little world and getting REAL work done never happened. Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard throughout the house and Pepper immediately tensed up, making sure that nothing fell off of her desk. She stood up aggravated: her boss was NOT going to ruin this building right after they finished fixing it with the incident with Rhodey.

"JARVIS, what are they doing down there?" the secretary asked, walking towards the stairs to the lab.

"It appears as though they are in their 'work mode' as Mr. Stark puts it." She rolled her eyes, muttering something about him being self-destructive, and was halfway down the steps when a massive flash of bright light exploded from the lab, rattling her vision.

"I think that worked..." came Bruce's voice. "Levels are holding steady..."

"JARVIS! Is Agent Coulson here?" she asked, retreating back up the steps, fearing for her own safety.

"Yes, he is talking with Agent Romanoff."

Elsewhere on the same floor, Agent Coulson, who was conversing with Natasha, felt the rumbling as well and knew who was responsible for it before he even asked. He nearly grimaced and looked at Romanoff.

"Stark?" she asked, eyebrow raised. Coulson rolled his eyes.

"Who else?" She smirked. "Could you give me a moment, I'll be right back." Coulson turned around and was walking to the lab when Pepper came fleeing back up the steps.

"Him and Banner are down there, and i have no idea what they're doing," she said, annoyed. Coulson gave his small smile and began heading down the steps.

"I'll be right back."

"Wait, are you sure you want to be doing that?" she called after him, worried. "They had a bright flash of light and something about levels holding steady, I don't think –"

"Ma'am, thank you for your concern, but I have dealt with people like Stark for a long time. I'll be right back." Pepper watched in some trepidation as the agent walked down the stairs, completely sure in his ability to handle the situation.

"Mr. Stark," he said, walking into the lab just as a whirring sound was growing in volume. "What are you –"

"First test subject!" came Tony's playfully vengeful voice followed by a loud electronic noise. Coulson found he had walked right into some weird contraption thing that looked like something out of _The Prestige_ when a loud white light blinded him and he heard Banner say from his levels status station,

"Whoa…what's going on here?" He looked at Tony and Coulson. "Tony - WAIT! DON'T DO THAT!"


	2. Chapter 2: Experimental Aftermath

000000

Bruce and Tony slowly lowered their hands from their eyes and looked in the ring of tesla coil looking things and white panels coursing with power from the arc reactor. They caught a glimpse of their experiment's results when a lot of wires started sparking and fused together, plunging the whole room into darkness.

"Please tell me I did not just see what I think I saw…" the taller man said slowly.

"JARVIS, reboot the lights," Tony ordered, a little unsettled himself. With a sudden return of bright white light, his worst fears were confirmed. Slowly, he and Banner walked forward to stand over the small body blinking rapidly in the sudden bright light.

"I believe your shrink tank had a different effect, sir," the AI said reluctantly. "Agent Coulson appears to have been reverted to his five year old self."

"I think this was legally your fault…" Banner said carefully.

"_MY_ fault? I don't think so: you were the one who came up with the _supposed _shrinking formula! And it obviously didn't work!"

"You fired up the machine on an unsuspecting man!" the other man countered, counting to ten to make sure he kept hold on his anger. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose under his glasses. This was not good.

"Is everything okay in here?" Pepper asked, walking down the stairs. She stopped, mouth gaping when she saw the little boy seated between them in obviously too big clothing. "Is that…_Phil_?" The boy immediately seemed to perk up slightly and look at her attentively at the mention of his name. "Oh my god. I'm calling Fury. Right now."

"Whoa, whoa, Pepper!" Tony called, walking after her finally stopping her at the top of the stairs. "Maybe we should try and figure this out _before_ we go get Cyclops in on this," he muttered.

"Tony, you just turned Coulson into a, what, _five_ year old? There's no way that I'm _not_ going to contact Fury!" she shouted, turning to face him. Romanoff walked over in her cool, collected way.

"I heard that one all the way from the other room. What about Coulson being a five year old?" She stopped as she saw Banner walking up the steps, a small child wrapped up in a mess of black suit and white shirt in his arms. "Uh…" she managed, tilting her head, a baffled expression on her face. "Is – is that Coulson?"

Pepper took a deep breath, closed her eyes, bit her lip, and nodded. Banner had the grace to look absolutely ashamed. Tony on the other hand looked completely nonchalant.

"I guess that the formula was off a little."

"A lot," Banner muttered, and Romanoff immediately pulled out her phone.

"Director, it's Agent Romanoff," she said curtly, looking over at Banner and Stark. "Yes, i'm at Stark's with - sir, i know you don't want to be bothered by him right now, but it concerns Agent Coulson." She stopped and fixed the two scientists with one of her death glares. "We have a slight situation here...Okay, a major situation. I'll bring them in." She put her phone back in her skirt pocket and an awkward silence stretched out between the four of them, the two men trying to avoid all contact and the women looking at them in complete disbelief. Only Coul...the kid, seemed oblivious to what was going on.

"Shall we?" the Black Widow said abruptly, turning and walking out of the house, Banner and, reluctantly Stark following. "We'll have a few stops to make on the way there."

000000

Fury was sitting behind the desk at his S.H.I.E.L.D. fingers tapping in a rhythm to keep himself sane. Agent Romanoff had not sounded amused and the absence of an update report from Coulson was making him a mite nervous. And he knew that anything to do with Stark was pretty much bound to give him a mother of all headaches: hence the reason why he always told Coulson to take care of everything to do with the Consultant.

He called one of the passing interns to him and told him to bring him some coffee: black with 2 sugars. Heaven knew he would need the caffeine for the amount of paperwork this...situation...was bound to give him.

000000

"Do you find it strange that he hasn't said anything yet?" Banner said over the noise of the quinjet they were getting on to get as fast as they could to headquarters. Tony shrugged.

"Why should we? Not like he talked much as an adult anyways." Romanoff scoffed and put a hand on the small boy's shoulder to lead him to one of the seats. She knelt before him and helped him buckle up, noting the quick way he was glancing over everything, taking in his surroundings.

"Stark, if he was still _Agent_ Coulson, he wouldn't be shutting up right now," the assassin said to him sharply. "I think your shrink tank may have done more harm than you think."

"Well, buying him some clothes that actually fit him wasn't so hard with him not talking or complaining," the philanthropist said defensively. "At least something worked out in our favor." Natasha rolled her eyes and took the seat next to her five year old boss. _Well that was a weird thought... _But Banner wasn't ready to let the matter drop that simply.

"What's your name?" he asked as the plane took off into the air. Suitably startled at being addressed, the child looked at him with an almost calculating stare before he said,

"You already know." Romanoff raised her eyebrow at the simple, intelligent way it was said.

"You have said his name about fifty times since this happened, big guy," Stark said pointedly. "He'd have to be stupid to not realize that you knew his name."

"I'm not stupid." They all looked at the small child in some surprise at the defensive way that was said. "Just saying." Banner took a deep breath,

"Well, i can see that this is going to be an interesting one..."


	3. Chapter 3: SHIELD and Director Fury

000000

When the quinjet landed on the landing strip, Coulson followed suit as the adults unbuckled and walked out onto the tarmac, instinctively keeping closer to the red head and the nice man with the glasses. He didn't like the other man for some reason. The one with the glowing thing in his chest. He wondered what it was and why the guy was so annoying and abrasive: it made it very tiring to be around him.

And how dare he even suggest that he was stupid?

His thoughts dwindled as he approached the intimidating looking facility and subconsciously scooted a little closer to the man with the glasses, grabbing his hand.

Banner started at the small hand that crept into his as they approached S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Was it possible that _Coulson,_ unflappable Coulson, was scared? Alright, admittedly he was a child at the moment but still: he was…Coulson.

He looked back up at the building and put himself in the perspective of this confused 5 year old. And realized that S.H.I.E.L.D. was really a scary place if you were in Coulson's position, what with snipers on the roof and security personnel crawling all over the place.

Yep: S.H.I.E.L.D was scary.

"Agent Romanoff, here to see Director Fury on an emergency meeting," the red head said and the guards stepped aside from the doors, letting them in to the complex. Agents in black suits and uniforms walked by them at fast paces. Everyone looked so busy and focused that it made the child a bit uncomfortable.

"Agent Romanoff," called one woman and a brown haired agent walked over to them, a serious expression on her face. "Fury's waiting for you and he wanted me to brief…who's this?" she said, sidetracked by the presence of the young child by Banner who quickly released his hand to stare at her with a defiant look that seemed very familiar.

"Hill," Natasha greeted trying to minimize the time spent talking. "That's why we're here to see Fury," Romanoff said simply, giving her a pointed look. "I'll explain everything later. Where is he?"

"He's in his office. Is that…" her voice trailed off in question. The Russian nodded before walking off in the direction of her superior's quarters.

Fury was facing the window of his room when the door opened to reveal an aggravated Romanoff.

"Sir, I'm here with Stark, Banner, and Coulson." The tall man turned around his coffee cup in his hand. And his eye widened as did Coulson's at the appearance of a man with an eye patch. Was it real, he wondered?

"What. Happened." It was more of a growled statement than a question and Tony shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. We were making a shrink tank and genius here messed up the formula somehow and _he_ walked in at the wrong time."

"That's not what happened," Banner said lowly. "You _purposely_ flipped the switch when he was in here. We hadn't run any real tests yet."

"So you're telling me you and Banner just _accidentally _turned my best Agent into a kid," he said in a dangerous tone. That shut them both up. Imperceptibly, Romanoff backed up a little bit, seeing the storm that was coming.

Fury looked at the ground in front of himself in appalled disbelief, making the two men before him shuffle in embarrassment, looking down. He looked back up, expression still there.

"Tell me again..." he began slowly. "HOW THIS HAPPENED?!" At the loud voice the little boy seated on the floor between the three looked up, brown eyes wide, startled and slightly fearful. Fury sighed, rubbing his face and calling for another cup of coffee. The two scientists had better have a good explanation for this.

"We decided to make a shrink tank, something went wrong, Stark flipped the switch on Coulson, and...well, you can see what happened," Banner said, gesturing slightly to the small boy beside him. Fury stared at the boy hard with one eye.

He was trying to find his best agent, the imperturbable Agent Coulson, in this five year old boy who frankly looked shy and weak, wearing a white short sleeve on a red long sleeve and jeans.

It wasn't happening. Surprisingly though, in the silence that followed, the boy held his gaze with a quiet calm that the Director was able to connect to his adult version.

"Well, I assume you two realize what you've gotten yourselves into?" Fury asked, looking back at the two men. Banner nodded obediently, while Tony just looked at him, unconcerned. Go figure. "So, I'm assigning you to take care of this mess. You figure out what went wrong and how to get this right! Meanwhile you and the others will take care of him."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'you and the others'?" Tony asked, immediately attentive.

"I mean that you take him and bring him to Stark Tower where the lot of you will take care of him. We've got no place for him at S.H.I.E.L.D." Tony sighed and rubbed his face in pre-exhaustion for the task that lay before him. "That means, Barton, Romanoff, Rogers, and Hill and I if we're available. And that Odinson when he's here."

"Yes sir," Banner said softly and Romanoff cleared her throat.

"Sir, we don't think that he has any memory of anything," she said, looking at Coulson. Fury sighed and squatted down so he was at Phil's level.

"Do you know who she is?" he asked the child, pointing at Romanoff. He looked around at her, brow furrowing as he tried to remember the name that he had heard over and over.

"She's Russian?" he asked hopefully. Fury sighed and stood, grabbing his cup of coffee from the intern. He had raised the cup to his lips and was just taking a sip when Coulson spoke again. "Why you got an eye patch? Are you a pirate?"

Fury coughed and choked on his coffee, spitting some of it back into his cup, inhaling another part of it, and forcing himself to swallow the rest of it. "What?!" he coughed, looking at Phil.

"Are you a pirate?" Fury coughed again and looked at Romanoff, who was biting her lower lip, trying hard not to laugh. Tony was smirking at him and Banner had a hand over his face. "Cause you got an eye patch and you're creepy."

"Um…_no_. No, I am not a pirate," he answered, admirably patient, and Coulson nodded, satisfied with the answer. Then, his face brightened again with another idea.

"Are you a top secret agent who works for the government? Cause I have a friend named _Nick_ Fury, and he wants to be a top-secret government agent. He looks like you...'cept, he's got two eyes. And he's a kid like me," Coulson continued innocently. Romanoff coughed and covered her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hide her laughter at Fury's face. He looked at the kid like he was an alien from another planet and back at the Avengers members before him.

"Romanoff, I think that you all have some things to get settled when you go to Stark Tower right now?" Romanoff nodded and gestured to Coulson.

"Yes sir. Come on Phil." She reached out a hand to him and the little boy took it, looking once over his shoulder at the thoroughly embarrassed Director.

"Well, we're going to have some fun when this is all over," Stark said, already making a mental checklist of all the things he was going to tell Coulson when he was back to normal.


	4. Chapter 4: Flight to Stark Tower

**A/N: so i decided to make Banner and kid Coulson little friends/buddies.**

000000

Coulson was slowly getting more talkative as they were flying, and to Bruce it was relieving. To Tony, it was annoying: he liked him better when he said nothing at all. Natasha was worried: she knew that it would get to the point where they wouldn't be able to shut him up. In fact, two and a half hours into the flight he had already asked 51 times if they were there yet. Banner found it entertaining, Tony looked ready to hit him over the head for asking so many times, and Romanoff had tactfully become engrossed in a report she was reading from Fury.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to my Tower," Tony replied, a hint of pride in his voice. "Big and tall with the words Stark written across the top."

"Is that supposed to be your name?" Tony looked affronted that the child didn't know his name.

"Well of course it's my name! You think I would put my _grandmother's_ name on it or something? Who else's name would I put on it?!" he snapped, looking at the boy.

"Most people don't put their names on buildings! And I don't even know your name!" Coulson argued back, and the adults looked at each other awkwardly.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't know our names," Banner said thoughtfully. "So, I'm Dr. Bruce Banner. I specialize in gamma radiation. This is Agent Natasha Romanoff, Avengers name Black Widow, and she's a…_very_ skilled, very _specific_ type of soldier." He pointed at Tony. "And that man is Mr. Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man: a genius, billionaire, play…philanthropist," he ended slightly awkwardly.

"Hey why'd you leave out the playb –"

"FIVE year old!" Banner interrupted loudly pointing at Coulson. Romanoff hid a smirk at that.

"I don't think he even cares! I mean, Agent Coulson knew about that!"

"Yeah but he was…how old was he?" he asked Romanoff and she looked at him seriously.

"It's classified information." Banner threw his arms up in exasperation.

"Of course his birthday is classified." He looked at Coulson. "What do you want us to call you?"

"Phil's fine. So why am I going to _your_ Tower?" He put a sort of annoyed emphasis on _your_ and threw Stark a look that said they were not going to get along.

"That's where you are going to be staying for a while as we figure out how to deal with a situation we have," Romanoff explained gently. "It's where all of the Avengers live."

"You mean like Captain America?" he asked, immediately a hyper five year old. Tony started laughing. And then couldn't stop.

"Guess we better call Steve and warn him," he said between hysterical laughs that had him doubling over in his seat. "Capsicle is going to have a handful with this!" Romanoff looked too entertained to say anything without laughing so Banner took up conversation.

"Yep. Like Captain America. Except we call him Captain Rogers or just Steve." Coulson nodded bubbling in side with excitement. "There's also Agent Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye: he's a master archer. And Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Don't worry about anything, though Phil. We'll take care of you, okay?" Phil nodded and looked down at his hands.

"I used to be...different...didn't I?" he asked in the silence that stretched out between them. No one answered and even Stark looked a little sympathetic.

"We can talk about that later, Phil. Okay?" Natasha said softly, putting a hand on his hands. "Right now, all you have to worry about is yourself as you are. Okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." She smiled.

"Just call me Natasha. How about you keep some sleep: it's going to be a long time until we get to Stark Tower. It's in New York." He nodded and curled up in his seat, resting his head on Banner's shoulder accidentally.

"Sorry." He immediately sat back up and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. Soon, the emotional strain of his situation took its toll and he was out like a light bulb.

"I think that we may have a lot more on our hands than we originally thought," Banner said softly. "He is smart enough to realize that he was part of something bigger, and he talks about his childhood like it was today."

"Are you suggesting that he is going to be experiencing what he would have experienced at age 5?" Tony asked, looking over at the sleeping boy who was slowly slipping sideways to rest on Banner's shoulder.

"He may just retain his memories from then," Natasha added, looking at Banner. "Is that a possibility?"

"It may be. And if that is true, then I don't know how these 5-year-old memories and his real 5-year-old memories would correlate," the scientist said and started again as Coulson fell into his lap, still asleep.

Awkwardly, Banner placed a hand on the agent's shoulder and let him rest there.

"It's going to be a long flight," he said to them. "We all should get some rest. We didn't know how hyper our new charge will be after a full night's rest."

"I can tell you right now that might be a workout," Natasha said looking at the boy. She couldn't help but feel a small soft spot developing in her for the child they were taking care of. Even if this was Agent Phillip Coulson.

When they all woke up, the sun was rising and filling the whole plane with golden red light. Romanoff immediately ran her hand through her hair attempting to get it as neat as possible. To her, the last thing she needed was Stark pointing fingers at her and teasing her for being, for once in her life, unkempt in her appearance. She looked over at Stark and saw him unattractively sprawled over the seats across from her, mouth open and snoring. Banner was still sitting there, almost as though he were meditating, one hand protectively on Phil's head. And her boss was still laying in the radiologist's lap, sleeping lightly.

Almost as if he sensed her gaze, Banner opened his eyes and took his hand off of the boy's head. THe boy sniffed and opened his eyes at the shift in movement and sat up.

"We there, yet?" Natasha craned her neck to look out the windshield.

"Why don't you look for yourself?" The boy smiled slightly and hopped off his seat, walking slightly unsteadily to the cockpit where he looked out over the city, easily pinpointing the massive Stark tower.

"It's pretty."

"My tower?" came Tony's hopeful voice and Coulson threw him a baleful look.

"No." Tony rolled his eyes and stood up, rubbing his face to get rid of the sleepiness that still clung to him. "The city."

"Stark Tower, this is quinjet 104-9, requesting permission to land."

"Permission granted. Welcome home, sir," came the ever-present British voice.

"Thank you JARVIS," Tony said, smiling as they came to a stop a top the building. "Welcome home boys." Romanoff elbowed him in the side as she walked down the ramp to the tower. "OW! A-and women. I mean, woman." Coulson hid a smirk and hurried to catch up to his two friends.


	5. Chapter 5: Meeting the Avengers Part 1

000000

"All right, JARVIS! How's the homestead?" Stark asked as he walked in, flopping down in one of the chairs that was off the bar.

"Fine, sir. Captain Rogers is in the gym and Agent Barton is crawling around in the vents."

"Can you call them in here, please?" Natasha asked, interrupting Tony's next question. "Tell them it's urgent and that we need to talk."

"Yes, Agent Romanoff."

"Why don't you go sit over there, Phil?" she said kindly, pointing over to a small table. "I can get you something to draw with, if you would like." He nodded and ran over to the table, obediently sitting down while she walked into the next room and pulled out a stack of papers and pencils and erasers. She knew Stark virtually carried none of this and had her own stash. "We're just going to talk for a little bit and you can come back to hang out with us okay?" she told him, placing the supplies in front of him before walking over to the bar where Tony was pouring Banner a drink, despite his protests.

"Tony, I don't drink."

"What, you a mean drunk?" he asked, playfully, shoving the glass out to him. Sighing, Bruce took it just to humor the man and looked at the door as it opened and Clint walked in, full on Hawk Eye uniform.

"Hey, Tasha, what's going on?" he greeted, nodding briefly at Banner. "I thought you were over at Stark's with Coulson."

"I was," she responded evasively, looking over his shoulder. "Rogers coming?" Just as she spoke, the door opened again and the super soldier came in, S.H.I.E.L.D. logo shirt and cargo pants. His knuckles were bleeding slightly: he'd been at the punching bags again.

"What's going on?" he asked and there was a tiny squeak from over at the table Phil was drawing at. All of their heads turned to look at him and the child shrank behind the table, eyes looking over the glossed wood at them. Eyes that seemed so wide they should have popped right out of his head.

"Um…who's th –"

"Steve, don't say anything to him," Banner warned. "We don't know what he might do."

"What do you mean? He's a kid!"

"He's also you're biggest fan," Tony said pointedly and Steve stared at him blankly. "With vintage trading cards…" he continued, hoping the soldier would get it. Steve's eyes widened too.

"Wait, that's Coulson?" he whispered, looking back at the astonished boy. Banner nodded, taking off his glasses to rub his forehead. "What happened?"

"Tony and Banner were messing around with a shrink tank and he walked in at the wrong time," Natasha said simply and Hawk Eye started laughing. "Clint. Don't laugh: it really isn't funny."

"What despite the fact that one of our mentors is now a five year old?" he snickered, but stopped at Natasha's glare. "What?"

"He really _is_ a five year," Tony said simply. "Like legitimately is a five year old. And yes, he still is a little fanboy. It was adorable on the plane when he found out that you were going to be here. I thought he was going to explode." Steve face-palmed and looked at his friends through his fingers.

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Sorry, cap. Guess you'll get first baby sitting shift!" the billionaire teased and Banner and Natasha gave him a look. "What?"

"Fury told us that we need to take care of him for now. That means completely take care of him. He and Hill are to be last reserves. But you two need to realize that he is a five year old. As in he has no idea who Fury is, but remembers his friend Nick Fury as if they were going to school together yesterday."

"Wait, so he has no idea who we are?" Barton asked, mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Don't think about it, Clint. Or the other guy might just throw you out the window, and I'm not catching you," the assassin warned, and the look immediately vanished from her coworkers face. They all looked over at their friend sitting on the floor, drawing something they couldn't see from their distance and angle.

"So…what's step one?" Steve asked and they all stared at each other blankly.

000000

"Hey, Phil," Banner said, easing himself down to sit beside the boy. "What are you drawing?"

"Drawin' shield," he said into his arm as he slouched over the table, face resting on his arm. Banner leaned forward and saw the building and all of the men with the guns and people in suits walking around. The boy was surprisingly talented for his age although Banner had to lean in close to determine what the big black and brown things was with the dot in the middle of what he guessed was the head was...Oh. It was Fury.

"Who are the people there?"

"That's that Hill person, Natasha, you and me. And that's Fury." Yep, he had guessed right. "What does shield mean?" Banner opened his mouth and nearly said _Why don't you go ask Agent Coulson that_, when he remembered who he was talking to.

"Do you want to take a break? We want to introduce you to the other two people here: maybe one of them can tell you what shield stands for." Coulson put down the pencil and stood up, walking closely behind his friend.

He looked at who was in the room and nearly sighed initially: the annoying guy, Stark (well, it was his tower so he'd probably have to get used to him soon); the nice woman Natasha; another guy who looked like a prank-puller whom he assumed to be the archer; and…he shrank behind Bruce again.

It seriously couldn't be him…could it?

They all looked around at him as Banner lifted him up onto one of the bar stools. Yep: it was _him_.

"Are you Captain America?" he asked, voice eager and a little high. Steve fought the urge to leave the room with some of his dignity still in place.

"Yep, that's me. How are you?" He held his hand out to Phil and the young boy stared at it like it was a foreign object, starting and nearly falling off the stool. Then, he broke out into a broad grin and shook his hand with all the vigor of a five year old meeting his hero in the flesh.

"That is the _first_ time that he has actually smiled," Tony said, downing another glass of alcohol. Romanoff and Barton exchanged a look before Barton started laughing at the wide grin on his mini superior's face and at the slightly embarrassed one of Steve's.

"I think you may have just joined the ranks of people he gets along with, Steve," Natasha said evenly as Coulson released his hand and stared at it for a full minute as if it had been touched by magic.

"Who's on that list?" Steve asked, suspiciously. Before he considered that good, he wanted all the information.

"Everyone except Tony," Banner answered promptly, and Tony scowled.

"There must be something wrong with the kid. How can he not -"

"There's nothing wrong with me! I'm just smart, okay!" Phil immediately said, looking at Tony almost fearfully and protestingly. "I just figure stuff out! There's nothing wrong with me!" he added again frantically, as Tony put down the glass. In a split second as Tony moved his hand towards the bottle he had been drinking from, there was a loud clatter as Phil launched off the stool, knocking it over and sprinting full out of the room, vanishing down one of the halls, fear written all over his face.

**A/N:** so i'm going to create a tragic past for Phil...they're always more fun to write with you know? So many more scenarios.


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting the Avengers Part 2

000000

"Phil?" Natasha called, walking over to the hallway, trying to see where he had gone. "Phil, what's wrong?" She grew worried as she saw the maze before her: barren and devoid of any tracks of Coulson. Tony was still standing there, hand midway to the bottle of vodka.

"Did i do something?" he asked blankly, noting the stares everyone was giving him.

"He did that on the plane, too," Banner commented, looking at their other two companions. "He kinda panicked when Tony suggested he was stupid to not have realized that i knew his name after saying it around him a bunch of times. Do you know anything about him, like childhood or anything?"

"What, me?" Barton responded. "Nope. His whole childhood is classified, and getting him to talk about it is like talking to a rock. Can't even search the S.H.I.E.L.D. database on him."

"Want me to hack into their records again?" Tony asked hopefully.

"NO." The one word response came from all four of them, Natasha included as she walked back into the room.

"If S.H.I.E.L.D. kept Coulson's past a secret, i don't think they would want people prying around in it. Especially now and especially _you_," Steve said, fixing the inventor with a glare that immediately made him reconsider his plans of doing it anyways. "Phase II was one thing, personal files...that's another thing entirely."

"Are we just going to let him wander around Stark Tower?" Barton asked standing. "How many floors are there to this thing?

"93," Tony muttered, ignoring Banner's response that it was rhetorical. "He could be anywhere in a matter of minutes."

"Tony, you and Banner take the upper floors, Steve and I can take the lower floors. Clint, you go on this floor and use the vents if you want." Barton waited for the rest of the Avengers to go their separate ways before he walked off in the direction of the halls, sticking his head in every room and calling for Phil. There was no answer and half-way through the floor the Agent realized that the boy probably wouldn't say anything if he had been in those rooms anyways and reluctantly started over.

000000

Phil huddled under the bed of one of the rooms he had run into. He could tell from a quick glance that it wasn't inhabited, hadn't been for some time and decided that it was Odinson's room, or whoever it had been who Fury had been talking about at S.H.I.E.L.D.: the one who wasn't always around. He didn't want to come out: Tony would probably hit him for being smart. Just like his dad in one of his drinking phases, and since this man drank, too, he didn't want to find out. He tried to crouch down into the shadows more as he heard foot steps and Barton came back in.

"Phil? Hey, where are you? it's okay, you can come out now." He started as the man dropped to his hands and knees and peered under the bed, giving a comforting smile and reaching a hand under to Phil. "Hey, no one's going to hurt you, you can come out." He still hesitated, drawing back into the shadows. He didn't know whether to trust him or not. His father had done this before. It hadn't ended well. _But these people aren't your dad_, he told himself.

000000

"He isn't going to hurt me?" came a small voice from under the bed and Clint's heart sank. He knew exactly why his mentor didn't want to talk about his childhood now.

"No. No one is going to hurt you. And i swear that if anyone even comes close to hurting you, i will shoot them with an arrow in a heart beat," he told him firmly but Phil still remained under the bed. "You okay?" Phil nodded, but Clint couldn't see it so determined the silence was a yes. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." the response was quick and urgent.

"It's okay if you don't want to. It helps is all i was saying," the archer responded before sitting up against the bed on the floor. "Why'd you run away?"

Silence for a few moments and then,

"I thought he was going to hit me. My dad would hit me when i acted too smart. Especially when he was drinking." Barton's mouth opened in a silent _ah_ of realization.

"Don't worry about Stark, Phil. He's too scared to hurt you. And he wouldn't want to. Ever. In fact, none of us would ever want to hurt you. Do you understand?" Another silence and then a brief sniff. "Is everything alright?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the bed.

"No one..." he began and Barton heard a small rustling sound and saw the faintest shadow at the edge of the bed. "My dad never said that to me." Barton nodded and decided to tell the young boy what he would have already known as an adult.

"You know, I was orphaned as a kid. I ran away with my brother to go work at a circus, and i can tell you now: no one gave a damn to what i felt and how i was doing. I guess you were like that too." He mentally berated himself for swearing at a five year old, but decided that, due to his relationship with his dad, the boy had probably heard worse. "I was like you too. I never wanted to talk about it, because i felt it made me weak. I handled it all on my own and built up a reputation for myself. Then, i met someone and...that changed. I realized that i could be strong when i needed to, but could seek out the help of others. That it was better for you than the hiding. You know who that was?" He looked down and saw the messy, dark brown hair peaking out from under the bed.

"Who?" Barton smiled and leaned over to tap Coulson on the forehead.

"It was you." And the archer was over come with joy when he saw the famous half-smile appear on Phil's face.

000000

"Romanoff, we've already checked the upper floors. He isn't here," Tony said, returning to the bar and sitting down, throwing a stress ball back and forth between his hands. "if he's going to be this much trouble -"

"i think they found him," Banner interrupted quietly, pointing over to the table where Barton was showing Phil how to make paper airplanes.

"Yeah, that's good. Wait! Does that look right to you? Compare it with this one," he offered, holding out his perfect arrow style airplane. Coulson looked between the two and squinted his eyes slightly.

"Oh!" he cried and unfolded one of the wings, folding it down in the right direction. "There!" Barton couldn't help but grin and gestured at the open space.

"Go on and throw it." Phil smiled and picked it up, cocking his arm and throwing it forward in a perfect, fast, straight line. Right as the door opened.

Natasha saw a brief flurry of movement to her left and immediately went into assassin mode, almost appearing to lose structure in her body as she folded over backwards and dropped into a bridge, the projectile missing her ducking frame by millimeters as she flipped down and sprang back upright. Unfortunately, her partner wasn't so lucky.

Steve winced as the sharp tipped plane crashed into the side of his head, startling him more than he would have cared to admit. It stopped mid-stride to the chairs where Barton and Phil were sitting, and he sighed, nearly grimacing the instant after the plane hit him. He looked at the table and Barton immediately pointed at the wide-eyed, embarrassed/shocked Phil Coulson beside him.

"Sorry!" he squeaked, mortified at having hit _Captain America, _of all the people possible to hit in this room, in the head with a paper airplane. He _really_ hoped he didn't make him angry. Contrary to his worries, however, Steve smiled, picked up the airplane, straightened the nose, and walked it back over to its "pilot".

"Nice shot," he said playfully, handing it back to the five year old and ruffling his hair as he walked over to sit on the couch nearby. Natasha hid a smile as she walked over to sit across from her two fellow agents to draw as well. She seriously thought Phil was going to faint at having Captain America ruffle his hair.

And by the bar, Tony added another item to his list of embarrassing stories to tell Agent when he was normal again.


	7. Chapter 7: of Naps and Assignments

**A/N: I know my chapters are really, really short, so I'm going to try to write a longer one here. Sorry this one was delayed a bit: school is getting crammed: paper to write, presentation to prepare. **

000000

By the time Coulson was finally getting tired, as five-year olds do, he had a whole arsenal of paper airplanes stretched out before him. It was almost as if the boy had immediate motor memory, Banner thought to himself as he rapidly made each style that Clint showed him with not as much as one mistake. It wouldn't surprise him if the boy did though: it may have been what made him a possible recruit for S.H.I.E.L.D. Suddenly, Tony leaned forward and stared at Phil as he drew. That couldn't be right.

"You're not left-handed," he finally said accusingly, and Phil looked up, baffled.

"Yeah I am."

"No, you're not. You're right-handed. You always write with your right hand," Stark protested and the boy stared at him.

"My right hand got tired," he said in a tone that said _obviously, dummy_, and went back to drawing just as naturally with his left hand.

"So, you're ambidextrous?" the billionaire continued, trying to wrap his head around how much he didn't know about the Agent but was being revealed in his child form.

Phil nodded and continued to draw, suddenly hissing between his teeth. "Dang it."

"What's wrong?" Barton asked, looking up from where he had been going over the crop circle reports with Natasha.

"I messed up," he said, disappointed. "Why do they make blues look black?!" He furiously began digging in the crayon box again until he found a black down at the bottom. Then, he went back to scribbling and outlining until he was satisfied with what he had drawn. "There!"

"Can I see it?" Banner asked, looking at the boy for permission. He nodded and the scientist picked it up and nearly started laughing. "That's... um...that's _very_ well done, Phil. Very realistic." He looked over at Tony and passed it to him. Unlike Bruce, he did not look amused.

"Oh now that's just great. Romanoff is the only one that looks good here! I mean seriously, what am I, a weird, demented looking blob-thing?"

"What about me?" the assassin asked, walking over and looking over Stark's shoulder. That small smile returned to her face. "I don't know. That looks like a pretty good approximation of you, Tony. What do you think Steve?" She took it from Tony before the billionaire could destroy it and gave it to the super soldier, who looked up from a copy of a WWII encyclopedia thing: everything from casualty lists to poetry.

"Um..." he sat up and peered closely at the paper. Phil seemed to sit up a little straighter, waiting to hear what his hero had to say about his drawing. Steve cleared his throat again.

It was something that looked like an office with a tall black, semi-blue (where he must have messed up), and brown pillar looking thing standing by what he assumed to be the desk. He determined the other blob with a blue thing in his chest was Stark. He thought it was saying something that he could actually tell who was Fury; who was Banner, with carefully drawn glasses and distinctive purple shirt and loose pants; and who was Natasha with the red hair and black office outfit. In comparison, Tony was a blob that he thought had little to no effort put into him.

It looked like...he leaned closer...yep: Fury was yelling and Banner was looking down while Stark was staring at the man indifferently.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Phil began to get a little worried as he saw his icon squinting at his paper and leaning in closer: what if he couldn't understand it? Then, his fears were dispelled.

"This is...wait, that's Fury yelling at Stark and Banner with Natasha standing off to the side...right? Wait, is this what happened when you guys went in to tell him what happened?" He added the last bit to the other three and Banner nodded. Steve looked back at the boy and felt relief at the broad smile.

Phil nodded, still smiling. "Yep! And i also drew one of you getting hit in the head with my paper airplane!" He slid the paper over to Steve and the man picked it up, clearing his throat at the adeptly drawn version of him with the paper airplane crumpling against the side of his head and Natasha half standing, half crouching.

"That's...pretty good!" he said, trying to say something that didn't make him sound like an embarrassed idiot. "Where'd you learn to draw like this?" He immediately regretted asking.

"I used to copy over the _Captain America_ comics." An awkward silence stretched out between the two of them. "And...other comics," he added weakly, feeling embarrassed. They were spared from starting conversation again when Natasha's phone started to ring.

"Sorry," she said briefly to them before standing and pulling it out, answering. "Agent Romanoff. I don't think that the crop circles are a big problem, sir, they...Okay. I understand. Who do you want? Rogers would be the best choice, sir. Understood. I'll see you at 20 hundred hours." She flipped the phone shut and stood there, seemingly off in her own little world for a few moments. Then she turned around and Phil felt a little scared: this was a new side of the nice woman that he hadn't seen before. And it was freaking him out.

"Fury wants all of us at the helicarrier, except you Rogers, at 20." She gestured for everyone else to follow her and they walked out to the adjacent room, which just happened to be the lab.

"What's going on?" Banner asked, sitting in one of the chairs.

"There's been crop circles out in Nebraska and since the Chitauri and all of our alien species showing up, all sites like this have been taken more seriously. Might be nothing, might be everything," she said briefly.

"To quote capsicle, do we need to 'suit up'?" Tony asked, rolling the stress ball between his fingers on the desk again. She seemed to think about it.

"Bring your suitcase armor. That portable one you used on the racetrack against Vanko. Other than that, yeah. Suit up."

"Why isn't Steve coming?" Banner asked and this time it was Barton who answered.

"Fury was planning on sending Coulson to go talk to him before any of this happened. You know how he's been beating himself up lately about how much he could have done but couldn't. And about not fitting in: he _is_ from 70 years ago."

"So, Fury thinks Coulson can help him now? Won't just keeping him out of this make it worse?" Banner asked but Tony shrugged,

"A little hero-worship could go a long way with a man like Rogers."

"Exactly," Romanoff said, walking out to her room. "We need to leave in about 6 hours. Meet me in the counseling room. We have a lot to go over."

000000

Coulson watched with wide eyes as the Avengers walked by. Because that's what they were now: not his friends, but Avengers. And he couldn't help but shiver at the change that had over come Clint, especially. He had gone from the kind, understanding, collected man who had coaxed him out from under the bed to a stone cold killer. His bow was slung over his shoulder and his quiver was bristling with arrows. And his expression was set, uncaring in a way. Not the nice man who had comforted him in Odinson's bedroom. Natasha followed out in her Black Widow outfit, but Tony and Banner remained normal. He'd have to ask Captain Rogers about that.

"Where are they going?" Coulson asked Steve, turning to look at him.

"They have an assignment in Nebraska," the adult answered, continuing to read.

"Why aren't you going?" This time, Steve looked up to actually face Phil.

"Oh, well...someone needs to stay and watch you," he said, giving a small smile. "Fury told me that he wanted me to stay this one. The others can handle this no problem."

"Why is it that Tasha and Clint have suits but Mr. Stark and Bruce don't?" he asked, and Steve inwardly sighed. _This_ must have been what Agent Romanoff meant about Phil being a chatter box when he so desired.

"Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, so they go on every mission wearing their uniform. Tony is carrying his suit in that suitcase thing. They don't know if he'll need it or not so he brought his portable one for this."

"What about Bruce?" Steve hesitated, faltering over his answer.

"That's something you should probably ask him sometime," he finally responded, closing his book and setting it aside. "Are you getting tired?" he sidetracked noting the yawn that Phil tried unsuccessfully to hide.

"Yeah..." he reluctantly admitted and placed the drawing he was working on on the table. He rubbed his eyes and Steve was hit with a sudden predicament: as far as he knew, they hadn't come up with any sort of temporary room for the child.

"Do you want to take a nap on the couch here? I need to go and see if we have a room for you." Steve stood up and was looking for blinds when he remembered that Stark had automatic blinds. "J.A.R.V.I.S, could you close the blinds?"

"Certainly." Phil blinked several times as the room was slowly dipped into darkness and fought back another yawn as he walked to the couch, pulling himself up and nestling down in the plush upholstery. Steve paused at the door as he looked over his shoulder at the small boy nearly asleep on the couch and smiled. Then, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and opened the door to the counseling room.

"Yes, captain?" Natasha asked from where she was standing before a picture of the massive crop circles and a comparison picture of the bridge imprints the Bifrost would leave when it had still been working.

"I was just going to ask if we have a room for Coulson. He's getting pretty tired and he's passed out on the couch right now." The people looked at each other in slightly awkward silence. "Yeah, i didn't think so."

"He can stay in my room for now," Barton said finally. "Don't worry, my weaponry is all safely out of his reach." Steve nodded and gestured his thanks, leaving them to their conversation. Steve stood awkwardly for a moment by Phil contemplating carrying him over to Clint's room or if he should just bring a blanket over. He decided on the latter and soon reappeared with a soft, black sheet from Clint's bed.

"Sleep well, Phil," he whispered, gently tucking the blanket around him before he walked off towards his room. He had a phone call to make. But first, he had to figure out what he had to say.

000000

As Romanoff and the others came out of the counseling chambers, carefully walking by the sleeping boy, they couldn't help but make slight _awww_ noises (except for Tony of course, who simply laughed and walked to the door leading outside.)

"You think we should tell Steve?" Banner asked, holding up the drawing they had found so cute.

"Nah. We'll leave it for him to find," Barton said, smiling in mild admiration at Phil. "I guess he was serious when he said he copied over the comics." He gave a low whistle as he looked at it closer. "Damn, that's good memory. He's got every detail down!"

"You didn't know about his photographic memory?" Natasha asked, looking at him surprised. "There's a reason he's Fury's one good eye."

"How much about him do you actually know?" the hawk asked almost offended that she knew so much about their mentor and hadn't told him about any of it.

"It's classified." He rolled his eyes and they immediately dropped the paper back down on the table and turned around to face Rogers as he came back in to the room.

"Did I miss something?" he asked as he saw everyone standing before the table, rather suspiciously.

"No, i don't think so," Banner said, smiling at him and walking towards where Tony was waiting.

"Don't worry, Cap. We can handle this one. Take this time to relax," Natasha said, smiling at him before she walked out to the other two men. Hawkeye was about to follow his companion out of the building when he thought of something.

"It's probably nothing, Cap. We'll bring you back an ear of corn from Nebraska," he smiled at the super soldier before he walked out, the quinjet dropping down to hover before the group of Avengers. They boarded and Natasha turned back to him to face him with a look that was somewhere between a _good luck_ and a _keep an eye on him. _His mouth twitched upwards in a brief smile and he raised his hand to them.

He looked back over at the boy and the table and his brow furrowed slightly.

"What is..." he sighed and picked up the drawing. It was a rather good version of himself from the comics. He smiled and gave a small laugh, looking at Phil over the edge of the paper. "Oh, Phil."


	8. Chapter 8: Returns

**A/N: so...my computer glitched and fanfic deleted half of this chapter *angry glare at computer* and my photographic memory is failing me right now *angry glare at myself*... I'm just giving you a heads up: this chapter is less Coulson-centric, but sets up the plot for future chapters. i hope. **

000000

As Phil was still sleeping, Steve took his opportunity to call S.H.I.E.L.D. about what they were supposed to do with Coulson for the time that he was going to be a kid.

"Hello Rogers," came Fury's voice as soon as he picked up.

"Sir, i was wondering what we're going to do about about Agent Coulson. We don't have ny thing for him, extra clothing, the basics. And since we have no idea how long he's going to be a kid are we going to be doing school or something?" Fury was nearly rolling his eye and laughing on the other line. Steve was really worried about this kid: almost in a fatherly way.

"Steve, relax. Hill is already on it, and she's heading over to Stark Tower to go over the routine with you. We've got things covered," he assured him and he heard Steve sigh in relief on the other end of the line. "Was there something else, Rogers?"

"Yeah, um...i was wondering why i wasn't sent on this one." Fury was silent for a while. "Sending Banner is pretty risky: we don't know what'll happen if he loses control in Nebraska. Contrary to popular belief people live there -"

"Because you need to take a break, Rogers. You're beating yourself up about everything you haven't been able to do for the people, even though there was no way that you could have done anything. In fact, we were going to send someone to talk to you about i, but it didn't really work out."

"What do you mean?"

"He was incapacitated." Steve looked over at the sleeping form on the couch and realized what Fury meant. "Hill is on her way, should be there any minute."

"Okay," Steve acknowledged and realized that Fury had hung up on him. "Of course." At that moment, J.A.R.V.I.S came on, voice soft so he didn't wake up Coulson.

"Sir, Agent Hill is here. Should i let her up?"

"Yeah, go ahead," he said distractedly, thinking over what Fury had said to him. The elevator opened a few moments later and Hill was standing there, a suitcase of clothing and supplies by her side.

"Captain Rogers," she said, walking in. "I had some words with Stark, the room that Thor usually uses can be used for Coulson. He doesn't normally use it when he's here anyways." Steve took the case from her and brought it to Thor's room, where the Agent began setting stuff out in the drawers and placing the toiletries in the small bathroom off to the side.

"How's he been?" she asked suddenly, looking up at him. Steve nodded.

"He's been...good," he answered, nodding. "He's just been drawing and making paper airplanes."

"Nothing with Stark then?" she asked pointedly. Steve sighed.

"We're guessing he had an abusive father who drank a lot. He panicked and ran away from Stark today. Took us a while to find him, but when we did, he was making the planes with Barton." She nodded and walked back out of the room to sit softly on the couch by Coulson. Steve sat across from her in one of the chairs. He debated asking her about something personal, but that might bring up some awkwardness between them...

"Phil, what messes you get us into," she sighed softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. The boy flinched in his sleep before falling back into his deep sleep. "How have you been?"

"Fine...I mean, not great, but I'm doing okay," he stumbled, tripping over his words and Hill looked at him seriously.

"What's going on?" Unnoticed by the two adults, Phil's eyes slowly opened a mere fraction, staring at them through his eyelashes. "Come on, Steve. What's up?"

"It's...it's about Peggy." Hill nodded and looked at him in an expression close to sympathy. "She's still...well, i can call her, and i know where she lives. I just don't know if i should..."

"You don't know if you should go to her, even after the Chitauri. She already knows you're here, Steve. All that matters now is if you go and see her." Steve sighed and looked down at his hands.

"I can't tell you how many times I've been about to do it, but stopped just as I was about to put in the last digit of her number. I don't know what I'm going to say. I never do." Hill nodded in understanding and looked down at Coulson beside her. "I don't want to hurt her."

"You'll make the right choice," she said quietly, standing. "When the others come back from the mission, we'll start talking about school options for Phil. Good luck on _your_ mission, sir." She smiled at him and walked to the elevator, entering and leaving as soon as she had come. Steve took a deep breath and looked at the phone on the side table. It was time.

000000

"We're here, sir," Barton said, as he landed the quinjet.

"Good. Remember, get in, observe, and comprehend any possible hostiles if necessary," came Fury's voice. "Do you have a target area for where the latest activity was, Stark?"

"Yep, Cyclops. No problemo." The billionaire stepped out and was greeted with a massive, darkened field of corn. "Suspicious corn circles in the middle of nowhere. This is going to be fun. Do you want me to take a look up high?" He asked Natasha and the assassin nodded and turned to Banner. He dropped the suitcase on the ground and began the process of putting it on.

"Doctor, could you stay here for the moment. We'll call you if we need you."

"Sure. Not like I'm objecting," he answered, leaning against the side of the plane, cleaning his glasses briefly before putting them away in their case and placing them on his seat.

"I'm going to go up and check the perimeter with the infrared," Stark said, jumping up into the air, rocketing away before anyone could say anything to him. Barton shrugged and walked off into the rows of corn, cutting down and obvious path for him to follow out, Romanoff following behind him.

"How're things looking, Tony?" Barton asked, looking up.

"These circles look a lot like the BiFrost imprints. Do you guys know if there's a way that each realm has a personalized BiFrost imprint? Wait...wait a minute. Guys! I see something out there. He's burning the corn with...wait, J.A.R.V.I.S., run a cross-diagnosis! Romanoff, Barton, get Banner! This is -"

"Stark, watch it!" Romanoff shouted as a they saw a strange blue pulsar rocket up at Iron Man, knocking him clear out of the sky. They could only watch in horror as he plummeted, flattening a circle of corn around himself. "Banner, we need you out here. Stark's down! Hostiles _are _in the area, repeat, hostiles are in the area!" She pulled her hand down from her ear and started off running, Barton loading his bow and following her as a rear guard.

000000

By the quinjet, Bruce felt his heart sink: he had hoped that it wouldn't have to come to using the other guy.

"I'm on my way," Banner said and took a deep breath, hoping that everything would work out once it was out of his control. When his eyes opened everything seemed shorter than before and smaller. But his mind was his and he began running, anger starting to build.

000000

"Tony!" Romanoff shouted as they got to the still figure on the ground. "You okay?" She rolled him over and saw the arc reactor flickering in an unstable pattern in his chest and felt fear flutter in her stomach. _No_. _No more red on my ledger._ "How do we get this off of him?" she asked, frustrated as she felt around his helmet. "J.A.R.V.I.S!" she shouted. "Open the helmet!" There was no response from the AI, and she looked up as she sensed Barton stiffen beside her and swung his bow up to full draw.

"Stop. Right. There," he growled.

The new comer smiled in an almost demented way.

"Miss me, Agent Romanoff?" She stood and braced herself for whatever was going to happen. In the distance, they heard a loud roar. _Please hurry, please hurry, please hurry_, she thought frantically to herself. Their opponent gestured to the night air at the noise. "The beast is still around i see."

"You wanna to be thrown around like a rag doll again, then i guess you should stick around," Barton snarled. Romanoff's eyes were still shifting around, searching the shadows. She could still see what happened to Agent Coulson on the security feed. He had miraculously survived, but out here in the middle of nowhere...they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Don't worry, Agent Barton, I am not here to cause trouble...or unmake you," the tall figure said and proceeded to hold his hands up at shoulder height. "I'm unarmed."

"Tell that to Phil," Romanoff said lowly. Loki gave a small laugh.

"You know...I had forgotten his name." At that, Barton's restraint snapped and the arrow was released, flying towards the demigod's head, but passing straight through him as his image faded and appeared behind them.

"I told you I am not here to cause trouble," he continued in that same calm voice. On the ground, Tony began to cough and slowly sat up.

"Stark, you okay?" Romanoff asked without looking.

"Ow?" he said, in pain and aggravated. "Reindeer Games. Back for round two?" Tony stood up and glared at Loki, though it couldn't be seen behind the metal. At the same moment, Banner came running up behind Loki, skidding to a stop as he saw Tony hold a hand up to slow him down. The growl that came from the Hulk at the sight of Loki was absolutely intimidating.

"So, Lord of Mischief," Barton said bitterly and sarcastically. "What are you doing here?"

Loki looked around at the group of Avengers around him. Banner looked ready to smash him to bits, but then again, when did the Hulk not look like that; the two assassins looked about ready to kill him, probably for what he did to that Agent. And Stark...well, he couldn't see his face, but he could feel the anger and eagerness to blow his head off radiating off of him. All in all, he realized that lying would get him no where. He hung his head and seemed almost ashamed to say why he was back on Earth.

"I'm hiding," he finally said. "And I needed help."

000000

After checking again that Coulson was still sleeping, Steve walked into his room and pressed the final digit. _Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up..._And a familiar, if slightly deeper voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Peggy? Hey, it's um...it's me. I was just calling to say sorry. I'm so sorry about what happened and..." he floundered as he tried to remember what he was going to say. _Next time write it down Rogers!_

"Steve?" she asked in the awkward silence that followed. "Steve, is that you?"

"Uh, hey, Peggy," he answered lamely, and was startled by the breathy sob and tearful laughter that came through the line to him. "Are you okay?"

"Captain Steven Rogers! You just gave me the first heart attack of my life!" she laughed, and the super soldier could almost see the smile he could feel through the phone. It relieved him to hear the familiar military bark of authority in her voice. "What happened to you? I saw on the TV..."

"I, um...i was stuck in ice for..." he cleared his throat, "70 years. S.H.I.E.L.D just dug me out in time for the Chitauri. I can't tell you how good it is to hear you, Peggy, how glad i am that you...well, i mean, i was looking through the files they gave me. Howard, Colonel Philips, and everyone...I'm just glad you're here."

"I am too Steve," she said softly, and he felt the radiant smile again. "I'm so glad you're back. I didn't think you would call."

"I almost didn't," he admitted and she laughed in a way that said that she knew that would have been going through his head. "I was afraid that you would yell at me for not coming sooner."

"I would have," she joked and they both began laughing. Suddenly, J.A.R.V.I.S's voice broke into their moment and he looked around at the speaker like he always did.

"Sir, Agent Romanoff is calling. Apparently, the mission did not go entirely to plan." He sighed in aggravation.

"What is it?" came Peggy's voice and he realized he had sighed into the phone.

"Oh, I'm babysitting and the others went on a mission. It didn't go according to plan, so they're calling me. I'm sorry Peggy, i have to go."

"I understand," she said gently. "You go do what you do, Steve. I'm not going anywhere any time soon."

"All right, I'm holding you to that," he said, smiling. "So, I'll see you around?"

"See you around Steve." The click of the phone sounded like a bomb and he set the phone down on the table, sighing, his heart loads lighter. From the crack in the doorway, Phil stood there, watching. He knew he probably shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but he had been bored. And now, he REALLY wished he hadn't. He felt as though he had just seen something that no one had the right to see: something personal, especially for his hero. But now he understood what that inner sadness had been with his hero.

"Sir, I'm afraid that she's insisting." Steve sighed inwardly and picked the phone back up.

"What is it, Natasha?"

"We're bringing Loki back to base. He was responsible for the crop circles and Fury's going to be there momentarily. I want you to make sure that Phil isn't anywhere in the open. I don't want to know what will happen if Loki - ''

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Go back to the part where you're bringing LOKI home?! What are you guys thinking?"

"Steve," Banner interrupted before the argument increased. "Just get Phil into his room and tell him that he's going to need to stay there tonight." Steve rolled his eyes.

"You guys are all insane," he muttered before hanging up. He walked over to the door and opened it to see a very guilty looking Phil Coulson standing right outside his door.

"Sorry I heard your phone conversation," he said in a small voice, looking down at his feet. Steve sighed and smiled.

"Don't worry about Phil. It's okay." he bent down and picked up the still half asleep boy to carry him over to his room. "You're going to have to stay in your room tonight, okay? We're going to have a visitor who isn't exactly very nice."

"You mean Loki, Thor's brother, the God of Mischief?" he asked, curious. Steve stopped walking and looked at him surprised. Then, he laughed and continued walking. He had to remind himself for a moment that this seemingly innocent little boy was the world's biggest comic book fanatic in all likely hood.


	9. Chapter 9: Loki and Nightmares

**A/N: sorry for the delay on this one. I'm moving, have a research paper to start, a history test to study for... :( life and school suck some times.**

000000

Phil was sitting on his bed, swinging his feet back and forth. His nap had been longer than usual, so he wasn't that tired. He had spent the last thirty minutes trying to jump up and touch the ceiling, but that hadn't worked: he was too short. Then, he tried to build a statue with legos and ran out of pieces half-way through his city and gave up on that, taking them all apart and putting them back in the drawer they had been in, color-coding and shape-coding them. By the time that was done, he was bored again and his fingers were a little stiff and his eyes were hurting from counting every single tiny lump on the plastic prisms.

He didn't understand why they wouldn't let him out of his room. And it was bugging him.

He had even gone out one time to ask why he couldn't come out, but Tony stopped him in the hallway and told him it was for his own safety. If Loki was so dangerous, why were _they_ around him? And then Fury had shown up and had seemed very angry. And he wanted to know why. Why, why, why, why, why. It was all that was on his mind and he had nothing to really do! He sighed and looked at the door. And was suddenly filled with a sadness. He was alone, and he didn't like it. He closed his eyes and flopped back on his bed, releasing a heavy breath of annoyance and boredom. He opened one eye and stared at the ceiling again. Patterns. Patterns in the ceiling made faces and shapes. Faces and shapes reminded him of drawing with his mother when his dad wasn't home. And thinking of his mother made him sad: he wanted to go home. But he didn't even know where home was. The world he was in was so strange and different. Voices talked to him out of the walls, he lived with super humans and super heroes...he was surrounded by people who cared about him but no matter what they did, what they said...

He was still alone.

He sat up and pulled paper and pencils over to him and drew a stick figure woman holding hands with a little stick figure boy. Then, with utmost care, he drew in her long, curly brown hair, green eyes, smile, and blue dress she always wore. He stayed a plain stick figure and the tree on his side remained a stick with lines protruding out of it. On her side, the plants were green, the flowers were red, and the trees were colorful and full. He laid down on his bed, holding the picture close to him and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.

But sleep would not come.

He sat back up and looked around the room again to see if he could do anything...adventurous. Definition of that word in his mind? Something that would get him in a load of trouble but would be worth it. And his eyes lighted on the vent.

"I wouldn't recommend that one," came a voice from the door and Phil looked over to see that agent named Hill, standing there smiling. "That's Barton's domain."

"Sorry." Hill laughed.

"Don't be sorry, Phil." She walked over and looked at the bed questioningly. "May i sit down?" He nodded and scooted over to sit against his pillows, looking at her questioningly.

"Why can't i come out?" he asked, looking at her with pleading puppy eyes.

"We have a man who isn't so nice over right now. It might be dangerous for you to be around him," she said softly, putting a hand over his on the bed covers.

"But all of you are around him," he protested.

"That's different, Phil. We're old enough to handle him. You're a kid, he could really hurt you," she explained and he nodded. "We can protect ourselves, and we can protect you. But right now, we need to know more about why he's here before we can let you around him."

"Okay." He sniffed and pulled one of the blankets over himself, snuggling down into the warm fuzz. "Can you read me a story?" Maria looked thoughtful and came to a decision.

"How about I make one up for you?" Phil nodded.

"Sure."

"Okay. So, once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there was a mighty kingdom. They thought they were the best in the land, with the best knights. Sir Anthony, who could be rather arrogant at times; Sir Green, who was kind, but was invincible in battle; Sir Hawk, the best marksman in the universe; Sir Stephen the man who never tired and always fought on for justice; and Lady Night a skilled assassin and spy." Phil was watching her with attentive eyes. "They all served under a man of extreme power and position. His name was King Nicolas. And he had two advisors named Esquire Marie and Esquire Philips. He trusted all of them, the knights and the squires with the safety of the entire kingdom. Whenever someone bad came along, they took care of it. But then, a very bad man arrived. His name was Lord Lafeyson. And he came with a very dark magic as his weapon: and he wanted to take over the world. But the Knights weren't about to let that happen. But Lord Lafeyson used his magic to destroy the castle and possess Sir Hawk, making him stab King Nicolas. But the King managed to give Esquire Marie an order to go and try and stop Lafeyson, Sir Hawk and the other men he had possessed. But she couldn't stop him and he got away, stealing the all-powerful Infinite Orb which would let him conjure an army. Lots of the king's men died when the castle was destroyed but all of the knights and the esquires got out. Even Philip who was getting the infantry men out."

After an hour, Hill slowly stopped talking as Phil drifted off to sleep.

"But King Nicolas knew that the Knights would return when he needed them. Because it was their duty. The end." Phil yawned and closed his eyes. She smiled and walked to the door, stopping as Phil called her again.

"Agent Hill?" he asked sleepily, looking up from his pillow at her with nearly closed eyes.

"Yes, Phil?" she said softly, flipping the switch and the room was slowly plunged into darkness.

"Esquire Philip...he didn't really _die_ did he? The King just kept him hidden to motivate the knights, right?" Maria Hill stopped and thought about what she was going to say.

"No. He didn't die, Phil. But the knights thought he did and when he returned to them, he was greeted very enthusiastically: they missed him more than he or they themselves knew. Sleep tight," she whispered gently closing the door. She turned around to see everyone looking at her in anticipation. "He's asleep."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked pointedly and she smirked.

"Very. Don't worry, he won't walk in on this conversation like he did with yours. Now, where's Loki?"

"He's with the Hulk in the lab," Tony answered. "Don't worry, Banner's in control," he assured her when he saw her look. "I think we're ready to go hear his story."

In the bedroom, Phil slept on, dreams filled with heroic knights, martyr esquires, and battles of every little boy's dreams. But in this dream, everyone was replaced. The Knights were his friends, and the esquires were Maria Hill and a faceless man he didn't know. Who was the last man?

Suddenly, the dream went dark and a new, much more familiar man came running after him, sending him sprinting through the night.

000000

"I am being honest with you when i say that i am not here to cause trouble, though trouble may follow me," Loki began from the interior of another one of the "steel traps" as Fury called them. "I have undergone my Asgardian punishment which i will not go over in detail. I was to be banished to Jotunheim once everything was done, but others had different ideas. If you are wondering why my brother hasn't come to pull me back to Asgard, it's because he is currently in the healing room with severe injuries. It seems as though the Chitauri were not kidding when they told me that if i failed to get them the earth and from there the universe they would come after me. They attacked Asgard and the All father sent me to the place he thought would be safest."

"He sent you here, hoping they wouldn't find you," Steve answered and Loki scoffed.

"I came here because it would be the last place they would check," he responded as though it were obvious. "How many people expect their quarry to go to ground where they will most likely be killed upon sight?"

"But they obviously found you," Fury said suddenly. "That's why you were branding the Bifrost imprints into the corn. To make it look as though you had other realms with you to protect you and back you up." Loki gave his smile again.

"Well, I'm not the god of mischief for nothing am I?"

"What i don't get is why, if you needed protection you shot me," Tony said, miffed. "I nearly died again!"

"You would have attacked me and i would have retaliated. It is in my nature," Loki added, looking at Barton and Romanoff slyly. "I hear the agent is alive. Seems he had no lack of conviction."

"And where did you hear that?" Maria asked, level-headed. He laughed and turned away from her.

"Not that hard to use my ears, Agent Hill," he answered. "What i can't understand is why i haven't had a reunion with him yet?" He turned around and laughed again. "After all, who wouldn't be glad to see their murderer one more time."

"Plenty of people," Fury responded. "Phil Coulson isn't the immediate concern here, Loki. You said you needed protection. Why?"

"I have reasons to believe the Chitauri will launch an attack to get me back."

"Why don't they just ask? I'm sure we'd all be glad to give you back to them without a war," Barton said to himself, rolling his eyes.

"We're not turning anyone over to the Chitauri as of yet, Agent Barton," Fury responded. "Doctor, is he telling the truth?"

"Well, according to these readings he is, but that isn't saying much since he's the god of mischief," Banner said from his station with the laptop. Loki rolled his eyes and paced again in frustration.

"You humans...never willing to trust people."

"Uh, well, we tend to not want to trust people who tried to blow up Manhattan and take over our planet," Tony said sarcastically. "If you were like Thor or something, maybe we'd think about trusting you. But you got no proof, Reindeer Games."

"PROOF?!" Loki suddenly shouted, slamming a fist against the glass. "If you want _proof_ i can _give_ you all the proof you want! Go out into that field! You'll find Chitauri _buried_ throughout the crop!" They all jumped slightly at his sudden change in demeanor. "I have been trying to get your attention for some time now. I knew you would be keeping an observation on the patterns from the moment they showed up. You're suspicious and curious and i was counting on that. Now i see i should have stayed out in the corn." He turned and forcefully sat against the bench thing they had in there for him. "Go on and kill me then, you'll be doing both of us a favor." Banner sighed and opened the cage door.

"Get out of there."

"Doctor Banner - " Fury said sharply, but the man turned around to face him.

"You want me to get angry?" he asked sharply and the Director shut up and looked at him warily. "Get out of there." Loki walked out, watching him carefully. "I know what it's like to be not trusted, to be shut away for something you did before. I'll admit i think you're crazy. But I'll give you a chance. I took scans of the field: there are Chitauri corpses in the ground," he told Romanoff as she went to go check the scans for herself.

"There they are..." she said softly. "Should i send a team out to clean up?" Fury nodded and she walked out of the room, pulling her phone out to transfer the information to headquarters. Suddenly, a loud scream, followed by several others reverberated throughout the tower and J.A.R.V.I.S's voice came on.

"I believe that there is something wrong with Agent Coulson. A nightmare, I believe." Banner, closely followed by Steve, Natasha, and Barton, ran to the door and practically threw it open, hurrying to the boy's room. Hill and Stark followed and Fury habitually pulled out his gun and prodded Loki along, giving him a single eyed death glare to not do anything that was just as intimidating as one with two.

Their charge was thrashing on the bed, almost as if he was trying to fight off something brutally attacking him, shoving himself against the wall and the bed frame. Banner stepped forward, confused and horrified as he saw the bruises and cuts and gashes all along his arms, shoulders and legs, blood seeping through the fabric.

"Phil," he whispered, sitting on the bed beside him, reaching out and gently placing a hand on the Agent's head, gasping and jerking his hand away as the nightmare seemed to increase.

"NO! NO!" he screamed tearfully, kicking out at Bruce, startling the man as he gaped at his bloody palm.

"Doctor, maybe you should back away," Steve said, carefully leading him back towards the door.

"Phil!" Natasha said loudly, catching the boy's flailing arms and holding them steady. "PHIL!" she shouted again, and the boy's eyes opened, brimful of tears that came pouring out as soon as he registered where he was.

"He's gonna get, don't let him get me again!" he sobbed wildly and Natasha pulled him into a tight hug, resting her chin on his head. "Tasha, don't let him get me, don't let him hurt me! NO!" He screamed again as if another blow hit him and she pulled him into a tighter hug, wavering on the verge of tears herself. Behind them all, Loki tensed a bit, looking on in baffled sympathy.

"No one is going to hurt you, Phil. No one you hear me? No one." He slowly settled to violent shaking. "Clint, Steve...could you get damp towels? Doctor Banner, come check him over." The doctor gave a small nod and cautiously sat back with them.

"Phil," he began. "Can you look at me please?" In slow, jerky movements, the sandy, sloppy haired head turned to reveal a swollen eye, split lip, and bruise rising on his cheek and forehead. "God." Clint returned with Steve and the doctor beckoned them over. "Just carefully clean all of this away. Phil do you hurt anywhere? Your bones?"

"My hand hurts," he mumbled thickly. " 'N so does my head..." Natasha slowly pulled away and settled the boy back on his pillows, trying hard not to look appalled by the sight before her.

Phil's wrist was swelling rapidly, as was his eye, and blood was all over his body, as though he had been beaten. Then, she remembered what they had been talking about with his memories. Apparently, he would experience them as he grew: regardless of him living that childhood or no.

"Your head hurts?" Banner asked kindly. Phil nodded and frowned as he felt a large head ache hit. "Do you feel like throwing up?" The boy nodded again and Banner lifted him gently off the bed and swiftly caught him as he tried to walk forward and did so very unbalanced. "Okay, you have a concussion, Phil. Don't worry."

"Don't feel so good..." he muttered and was just about to throw up all over the carpet when a bucket appeared out of nowhere before him, providing a repository for the contents of the boy's stomach. Banner kneeled by him and slowly rubbed his back.

"Thanks, Loki," Steve said, looking over at the demigod. He shrugged.

"Might as well use my now limited magic for something useful," he answered and Fury placed the gun in his holster again. "Satisfied I'm not here to cause trouble?" The Director wisely chose to ignore that.

"We're just going to get you in bed, okay Phil?" Banner said softly and Barton lifted the boy into his bed and gently settled him back in a comfortable position. "Tony, you got some Acetaminophen?" Tony stared at him.

"Um..."

"Tylenol. It's in the bathroom," Steve answered and immediately went off to go find it, returning quickly with it. "I memorized all of the medication in this house when i got here. Tony's solution to pain is drinking it off, so - " he was interrupted by a fearful whimper and they watched as Phil shrank into his pillows, terror in his eyes. Barton slowly reached back out to wipe away the growing blood on his head and Banner softly whispered something to HIll and she soon returned with a bag of ice.

"Now, keep this on your head where you were hit Phil. It will help, even if it feels too cold at first.

"Steve, could you watch him for a while?" Fury asked, ushering everyone else out. "We need to get Loki here settled."

"Yeah, sure," the soldier immediately responded and soon found himself seated beside Phil again. "How you feeling?" Phil gave him a seriously? look and coughed slightly, wiping his mouth of the blood from his bitten cheek. "What happened?" He shook his head. "Phil, i was bullied all the time when i was little. Even when i was an adult, i was tiny and beat up all the time. And i learned later that the best thing you can do is talk about it." He looked at Steve and the adult held his beaten, yet still defiant gaze.

"It was my dad," Phil whispered, closing his eyes as he tried to not cry again. "Mommy always told me that he loved me. He never did. Never. Always drank, that's all he did. He hit Mommy one time and i yelled at him not to. He locked me in my room and..." he broke off and tears came into his eyes again, threatening to fall over. "I climbed out my window and climbed to mommy's room and came downstairs with their fireplace poker." Steve couldn't help but feel admiration for this five year old: taking on an adult drunk with a fireplace poker as his only weapon. "He had beaten Mommy. I - I hit him. He hit me, and i tried to run. I got out to the backyard..." He stared at something very hard in the corner of the room trying to not lose control. "I knocked over a chair and he tripped. I ran back into the alley and tried to climb over the garbage cans and get into Nick's yard. I'd done it before, but it was too dark and i was...was too scared. I fell off and he...kicked me over and over. i tried to run and hide, but i...i couldn't."

"Sh-h, Phil. Just rest." Phil nodded and Steve reached out to gently keep the ice pack against his head.

"He won't come back for me?" he asked softly. Steve shook his head.

"No. And if he does, i will throw him clean across the world." Phil smiled and slowly fell asleep, this time when his dad came after him, he never got close. Natasha dropped down in front of him and in a bewildering series of fight moves landed him flat on his back, winded. Barton appeared beside him, dressed as a futuristic archer, a man was in a weird metal suit, and Captain America was beside him, shield protecting them both. Then, a strange, giant green monster ran up to stand among them, giving his father the death glare.

Who were these people?

Why did he know them?

He didn't know who they were, or how he knew them: all he knew was that they would protect him.

But in the morning, he didn't remember the dream, or ever having one. All he remembered was his father attacking him again more violently than ever before, and his new family picking him up, and piecing him back together. And that was a family.


	10. Chapter 10: Childhood Past

**Sad Phil chapter**

000000

"So, what exactly happened with your Agent?" Loki asked, almost amused, as he walked into the room they had made for him, inspecting it.

"An experiment went wrong and he walked into the lab at the wrong time," Fury replied, purposely vague, standing from the doorway. "Will this work?" Loki looked over his shoulder.

"It is better than a cornfield," he admitted and proceeded to nod. "It will work fine." Fury nodded, closed the door, and turned around to walk into Romanoff.

"Agent." She looked at him seriously.

"Sir, i think it's time that we know _exactly_ what Phil's childhood was." Fury rubbed his head and looked over her shoulder to see Barton washing his red tinted hands and Banner talking to the medic he had called in from base. "Stark's fiddling around in his lab. Won't let anyone in," she answered seeing his questioning look. "Sir, we need to know in order to be around him." He nodded and walked down the hall to the sitting room where he sat heavily on the couch, looking through the pictures his friend had drawn.

"Call them in," he said abruptly and looked up as Romanoff walked briskly off, tapping Banner on the shoulder and jerking her head in the direction of Phil's room. Banner tapped slightly on the door before opening it and found Phil asleep, skin seemingly shiny with sweat: fever then too.

"You can leave the rest of this to me, Captain," the young nurse said softly, smiling at the veteran kindly. "He'll be safe with me, i assure you." Steve reluctantly passed the ice pack to her and backed away to the door, heart heavy as he saw the broken form laying still on the soft bed.

"Come on, Steve," Banner said lowly, leading him away. He sighed and walked out with him, rubbing the back of his head.

"I can't understand what happened to him," he finally said, dropping into the couch beside Fury. "I mean, that amount of damage would have to be done by another adult, not himself. He says it was his dad, but that's not possible, so what's going on here?"

"It was." They looked up as Stark walked back into the room. "Since the incident, i've had J.A.R.V.I.S. monitoring his vital readings. When he was sleeping, he went all weird. As though he were awake, but he was asleep. I guess our experiment made him experience anything that he experienced as a five-year old in normal timeline. In his mind, his father did beat him."

"By the way, _what_ was that man's problem?" Barton asked, looking at Fury. "It's not like this was a one time thing, the way he's been acting."

"Intermittent explosive disorder," the Director answered after a long pause. "You need to understand that Phil has never talked about this. And i mean _never_: the only reason i knew about it was because i saw what happened from my bedroom window. By the time i got by my parents and over the fence..." He sighed heavily and one by one the Avengers took seats around him, reclining in the furniture. "His father was one of the most serious cases of intermittent explosive disorder, which, before you ask Steve, is a real disorder."

"What's the symptoms?" the super soldier asked anyways.

"Extreme violence, over reaction to small things that again, usually ends very ugly. But yes, his father was a serious nut case. In fact when he went to the asylum after that incident, he killed an orderly. Needless to say he disappeared really fast." None of those present had to ask what he meant. "I finally got Phil to talk about it when we were on a mission as junior agents, holed up under fire, waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D to get their sorry asses there to get us out. Let's say i wish i hadn't." He paused again and rubbed his face. "Phil and I only ever refer to this as 'The Incident.' Because what you don't know is that this was the start of his better life. He was sent to live with his grandparents after this. It was also..." he paused and cleared his throat. "It was also the day that Lily Coulson was murdered in near-accidental homicide."

000000

_The door upstairs slammed open and Phil jumped at the table, instinctively looking at his mother as she stood at the stove, stiffly cooking dinner._

_"It's okay, Phil," she whispered, stirring imperceptibly faster. "It'll be okay. Just...focus on your work." Phil nodded and looked down at his math. The simple addition problems didn't want to add up though. No matter what he did. Suddenly, he came stumbling down the steps, obviously drunk, and swearing under his breath._

_"Dinner ready?" he slurred walking over to his mother and she almost shied away, but stopped herself, standing her ground._

_"No. I'm working on it though."_

_"How much longer?" he asked, enunciating carefully, a dangerous snarl in his voice. Phil shrank in his chair and his mom shivered._

_"I don't know."_

_"Well get working on it!" he snapped, staggering over to the table. "Don't see why it's taking you so long though, you sorry excuse for a - "_

_"You want to make it, make it yourself!" she spat, turning around, slamming the spoon down. "I'm done with this, Darren, i really am!" A dangerous light lit up in his eyes and she took steadying breaths as he came up close into her face._

_"You listen to me carefully, you little - " before she could dodge, the hand came flying backwards and forwards in a fist, knocking her painfully against the counter and to the floor._

_"STOP!" screamed a young voice and Phil suddenly found himself the target of the death glare. "Don't hurt mommy!"_

_"YOU DO NOT TALK THAT WAY TO ME! I DO WHATEVER THE I HELL WANT!" he shouted and ran at the boy, his drunken state working to his next victims advantage as Phil easily evaded him to run to his mom._

_"Phil, go up to your room," she said fearfully, pulling him close to her, cheekbone already discoloring. "Go up to your room, I can take care of this."_

_"Mommy - "_

_"Go," she said sternly, looking up at the disoriented but mad as a bull man staggering back to them. "I love you, Phil." He looked at her fearfully and Darren closed his hand on his son's wrist, yanking him back to the stairs._

_"He's as sure as hell going up to his room!"_

_"Darren, leave him alone!" she shouted running after him, trying to grab her son away from him. "Darren, don't TOUCH HIM!"_

_"Or what, Lil? I'll do whatever i want!" With that, he pushed her violently back and dragged his son up the stairs ignoring the bloody murder directed at him from somewhere around his knees. "Shut up!" He threw his small boy into the room, scoffing as he tumbled head over heels into the dresser. "Be thankful kid, you're getting off lucky this time!"_

_"DARREN!" he heard someone shout and saw his mother standing there, fireplace poker in her hands. "Get. Away. From. Him." She trembled in fear as he slammed her son's door shut, and that was the last thing Phil saw before the screams started. He shuddered and curled up in the corner, trying hard not to cry._

_"NO!" His mother's scream was cut off suddenly and he stood up, flinging open his window and perching on the sill, reaching around to grab the pipe between his window and his mother's. Think like you're with Nick, he told himself and he effortlessly swung over, landing on the sill and climbing in. Everything was silent and he saw the discarded fireplace poker. Slowly, he walked forward and picked it up, treading quietly to the next room._

_"Lil? Lilly?" He stopped at the way the voice said his mother's name: almost pleading, but not quite. "Get up, you sonnabitch! Get up!" he slowly stepped around the corner and froze as he saw his mother lying limply on the floor, head tilted at a strange angle, blood pooling from a gash to the side of her temple. Darren was kneeling over her, back to him._

_"Mommy?" he whispered and his dad's head snapped around to face him and with a roar of anger, the adult ran at him. Closing his eyes, he swung, and dropped the poker as he heard an angry shout above his head._

_"YOU LITTLE DEMON!" He opened his eyes and saw the cut he had inflicted, turning to sprint out of the room, falling down the stairs, his limping father chasing after him. "GET BACK HERE! YOUR SORRY MOTHER AIN'T HERE TO PROTECT YOU!"_

_"When she wakes up she'll help me!" Phil shouted back, the table between them. A mad, insane look was in his father's eyes that he had never seen before. To enforce that observation, his father laughed and knocked the table aside, chasing his through the door. Phil looked wildly around for anything to help himself with and saw a chair, which he threw violently to the hard-packed dirt, his father tripping over it, swearing, in a heap._

Get to the trash cans, get to the trash cans. Nick, get to Nick_, he thought frantically, sprinting around the corner of the house to climb up onto the metal trash bins, about to pull himself over the top of the short fence. But his fear got the better of him as he saw his father come lumbering around the corner and he fell in a loud crash of metal._

_"You...are not going...anywhere," Darren hissed and the beating began, Phil scrabbling in the dust for something to defend himself with. And his hand closed around the trash can lid and he swung it around to face the boot flying at his face. He cried out in pain as his wrist made a cracking sound and his father echoed him, grabbing his foot in pain. "YOU LITTLE - " _

_And a garbage lid went flying into his face, knocking him into the wall, where he fell to the floor, the alcohol in him making him confused and woozy. Phil let the shield drop and was about to stand up when the sole of a boot came flying at his face and he blacked out._

_When he woke up, he was in a hospital bed with what seemed like fifty people crammed in with him, nurses, doctors, and a lot of people in suits. _Why were there people with suits?

_"He's awake," came a soft voice and one of the men in a suit came over to him._

_"Hey, Philip," he smiled. "I'm Mr. Craine, a lawyer. You're going to go live with your grandparents, okay? Your dad isn't going to be coming back to hurt you." Phil looked at him blearily._

_"I wanna see my mom," he said softly. "I just wanna see my mommy." Mr. Craine sighed and looked at him sadly._

_"I'm sorry, son."_

_"You're not my dad," Phil said in a boy-you're-stupid way before saying again, "I want my mommy."_

_"I'm sorry. Your mother's dead, Phil. She's...in a better place now." Phil looked at him in horror._

_"You're lying."_

_"I'm sorry, Phil. But - "_

_"You're lying! It's not nice!" he said loudly, looking away in denial. She had told him that she loved him. That everything would be okay. Mommy never lied._

_"Phil, I'm really sorry, but she's gone." The lawyer waited for some response, but there was nothing. "Phil, are you okay?" Still no response. "Phil, are you hearing to me?" Phil still stared off into the distance. "It's okay to say anything you're feeling right now, you know - "_

_"I want to see Nick," Phil interrupted suddenly, looking back at him._

_"I - I'm sorry, who?"_

_"Nick Fury. He's my friend. Next door." Mr. Craine nodded._

_"Okay. I believe he's actually here, waiting outside. I'll be a moment." And soon, he was surrounded again by sympathetically smiling, sweet talking, poking, prodding nurses and doctors. He hated them. He wished they would just go away. Just leave him alone._

_"Hey, Phil," Nick said softly by the door, trying unsuccessfully not to look appalled at his friend's appearance. Seeing the presence of a visitor, the staff walked off, ready to give them their space and left the room to record their data. "How are you?"_

_"Mommy's dead," he answered, sniffing. "Darren killed her." _

_"I know. The police carried her body out when they arrived. I called the police you know? Mom wouldn't let me, because she was afraid Darren would go through on his threat and hurt me and my brother. But i did anyways."_

_"I wish you'd called sooner."_

_"I do too. You want to talk about it?"_

_"NO."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Yes. I don't want to talk about it. EVER. I just...I just wanted you in here and not the others." They looked at each other and Nick realized that the his best friend, usually so vibrant and talkative, would never be the same._

000000

"His dad killed his mother?" Steve asked, shocked. "How?"

"It's sounds like a snapped neck, but the cut on her head would say otherwise," Barton answered, looking at Fury for affirmation.

"The forensic people decided she had been thrown down sideways as she was trying to get to a chair, probably to use it as a weapon. She hit her head on the edge of their dresser at an angle that broke her neck and gave her the cut. That's what they think," Fury answered solemnly. "I don't know how this is going to work when Phil's an adult again. Stark, you were looking into side effects, do you think he'll have memories of this childhood too?"

"Hopefully," he replied in a deflated tone. "Remind me to treat him like he's not a machine when he's back to normal will you?"

"Sir, Loki has entered Agent Coulson's room." They all stood up and Tony marched purposefully down the hallway.

"Reindeer Games, you got two seconds to explain what you're doing." Loki looked up from where he was looming over the boy, hands hovering over his still form. "And back away from him."

"Not until I'm finished," he answered reasonably.

"Back away."

"Not yet!" Something in Loki's expression told Stark to wait, but he still watched him with a venomous glare.

000000

When Loki was sure that the hallway was empty and heard the nurse walk out to her small guest room, he opened his door and softly walked to the door of Phil's room, opening it and entering. The small boy was lying, beaten on the bed, one of those pathetic mortal medical things they called 'casts' on his broken right wrist. Loki sighed, looked behind himself carefully, and shut the door, walking over to sit beside the boy.

He had to get their trust. He had to. And this young, innocent child did not deserve to be lying here, beaten by a memory from long ago. _What was wrong with him? What had happened to the dangerous, callous villain who had just tried to take over this world?_

Phil frowned in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes, sensing another person in the room who wasn't one of his friends.

"Who are you?" he asked, challengingly, glaring at him from his position on the bed. Loki had to give a small laugh at the close resemblance to his older self there was at this age in terms of personality.

"No one who wants to hurt you," he answered, walking forward to stand beside him. "In fact...I'm here to help you."

"Who are you?" he asked again, watching him warily.

"Do I frighten you?" Loki asked, truly curious. "Do i look like something out of your nightmares?"

"You're Loki, God of Lies," Phil finally said, answering his own question. "Why are you here?"

"To help. Close your eyes and go back to sleep, Agent. I can make all of this," he gestured at the cuts and bruises, "go away. And i will not hurt you." Phil nodded and closed his eyes and Loki blessed the naive trust of small children. "Sleep, son of Coul."

000000

When Loki backed away, Stark walked forward, completely surprised and taken aback to poke at Phil's broken, now unbroken, arm. At the touch, said boy's eyes snapped open and he sat up, looking at Stark.

"What?" he asked, annoyed. "I was dreamin'," he continued, rubbing his eyes.

"I told you i didn't want to hurt him," Loki said as Banner checked him over for himself and Romanoff looked at him in mild surprise.

"No...I guess you didn't..." the doctor replied slowly. "Everything's healed." Phil yawned behind them and asked blearily,

"Can i go back to sleep?"

"Yeah, Phil. Go on back to sleep. We'll leave you alone now," Barton answered, looking at them all pointedly, and they filed out of his room into the hall, Loki heading for his own room.

"Loki," Fury called and the Norse god turned around. "Why?"

"I assume you mean why would I do what I did. People can change, but I can't. I can do things right once in a while. And I'm trying to change that. I'm trying to show that you can trust me."

"Well then," the Director responded, nodding to himself. "Welcome to Avenger's tower, Loki. But remember...I got my eye on you." After giving a long, slightly awkward stare at him with his one eye, he walked off, telling Hill it was time for them to return to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters. Loki waited until he was safely out of earshot before saying,

"Is he always like that? The whole attempted intimidation?" Steve paused and frowned in thought. He finally responded after going through all the times he had been around the man.

"Yep. Always."


	11. Chapter 11: Pianos and New Babysitters

00000

Bird song filled the room and Phil took in a deep breath, rolling over to look at the window where a small bird was perched on the window sill, pecking at the window and chirping incessantly. He smiled to himself and laid there on his belly staring at the animal.

"Who're you?" he asked it softly, and the bird stopped pecking momentarily, looking at him. "Where're you from?" The small serene bird captivated him, staring at him with its small, intelligent eyes. After a long moment of silence, the bird opened its mouth and chirped, making the boy jump and smile, giggling a little.

"I believe it is a Pine Warbler on its migratory path through Central Park," came J.A.R.V.I.S's voice, startling Phil and making him sit straight up. "It is 51 degrees Fahrenheit outside, 6:00 am, and good morning, Agent Coulson." Phil swung himself out of bed and walked over to the desk and climbed onto it to tap the glass in rhythm with the pecking of the bird.

"Why do you call me Agent?" he asked, looking up at the speaker like he'd seen Captain Rogers do.

"I'm afraid that is classified information." Coulson humphed into his arm and continued to lean against the glass, poking at the bird. Then the warbler, realizing that no food was forthcoming from the glass hopped off the sill, soaring out into the air and vanishing into the distance.

"Is any one else up?" he asked again after spending some time fogging up the glass and drawing faces in it.

"No, they are all still in their bedrooms." Phil nodded. His mother had always told him to stay in his room until his dad was up and awake. But that was when he had been living with him. And his mom. He made one last face on the glass and turned around, dropping down to the floor where he sat cross-legged, fiddling with the hem of his pants. He took a deep, contented breath and looked around at the clothes folded neatly on the seat of the chair he was sitting beside. He sighed and grabbed them, walking over to the bathroom.

000000

When Phil walked out of his room, treading softly to not wake up anyone else in the surrounding rooms, he felt that sort of exhilarating thrill in him that came with doing something he wasn't sure he should be doing. Pausing before the main sitting room, he walked across to the door that lead out from the side of the bar that Tony had past the small lab and to another big room that was empty save for a single piano up on a slightly raised, mini dais. Walking softly in his sock clad feet, he climbed up onto the seat, looking at the clearly old keys. They seemed rather dusty as though they hadn't been played in a long time. He closed his eyes and thought back to sitting in Nick's living room beside him, as his friend guided him in a song. When he opened his eyes he was trying to remember where they were on the instrument.

He tentatively reached out a hand and pressed on a key, and a loud melodious sound came forward. He smiled and pressed it again. The same sound burst forth. he shifted on the bench and reached out his hand again. A flat...G...C...A flat...G...E flat...

"Do you play?" Phil jerked his hand away as though the shining keys were suddenly red hot and saw Fury standing in the doorway. He shrugged.

"I guess? My friend taught me one song." Fury smiled and walked over to sit beside him on the bench. "You wanna hear?" Fury frowned in a sure why not way.

"Go ahead." Phil re-situated himself and reached out his hand again, finding the notes more readily. When he got to a certain point, Fury reached out and played the accompaniment without pausing, nearly smiling.

000000

Romanoff's eyes opened and she frowned slightly at the sound of piano music from somewhere in the tower and it was annoying her. A lot.

"J.A.R.V.I.S? If this is Barton's idea of a prank give him a heads up that he's about to be murdered," she growled pulling the pillow over her head to block it out. Not that it wasn't pretty, it was just..._ill timed. _

Similarly annoyed and one door down, Barton sat up in his bed and walked over to the door, opening it and walking into a very angry looking Natasha.

"What the hell Barton?! Piano at 6 in the morning?"

"What?" he asked, complete innocence. "I thought it was Stark. _You_ know _I_ would know better than to wake you up this early on a day off." She rolled her eyes and turned to Stark's room only to see the billionaire stick his head out of the door.

"Who's playing Banner's piano?" he asked, walking out and through the sitting room.

"How do you know that's Banner's piano?" Steve asked from his door, rubbing his face to get rid of the webs of sleep still clinging to him.

"I helped him move it here, didn't i?" the first said in a know it all way over his shoulder. "Well, what do you know? It's Cyclops and Phil." Banner was already standing there watching the two Agents: Director and...well, kid. Romanoff looked on and nodded. It was about time that Fury started interacting with Phil on a level that wasn't just staring at him as though looking at him hard enough would turn his best agent back into an adult, no damage done. Fury looked up and abruptly stopped playing, putting a hand on his shy companion's shoulder to reassure him.

"Hey, you go on playing, there are some things i need to go talk to the others about. Can you do that for me?" He nodded vigorously in response.

"Yes sir." Fury smiled and ruffled his head before walking over to the others, the piano song starting up again. "Gentlemen, Romanoff," he began, gesturing for them to follow him out of the room into the sitting area.

"Since when did Coulson play the piano?" Barton asked, walking up close behind Fury. "I've seen him with a piano before, absolutely nothing. In fact, he looked at it like it was an alien he wanted to shoot or something!"

"Not everything about Agent Coulson doesn't revolve around S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Barton," Fury said, exasperated looking around at the archer. "And it's actually about Coulson that I'm talking to you all. Partially." They all gathered around the bar and leaned in in order to talk quietly enough so that Phil couldn't over hear them. "We sent our clean up crews out there. None of them have reported back." Natasha almost imperceptibly bit her lip and Barton leaned forward some more, worry starting to grow in his stomach.

"What about Hill?" she asked, looking at him. "Was she on the clean up crew?"

"She was a super visor. Only one that stayed by the quinjet, and only one who got out," Fury answered solemnly. "But she isn't talking. She's just sitting there, shaking like she's seen the devil."

"Hill?" Steve asked, surprised. "From what I've seen, she's...pretty unflappable." Fury nodded in acknowledgement.

"That's why we're worried about her," he said, looking at each of them. "Loki hasn't told us something. We don't know what it is, but he's left something out. Something important."

"Who was on the clean up team?" Barton asked. "Anyone we knew?" Fury cleared his throat and looked over at the piano room to make sure that Phil was still engrossed in the piano.

"Sitwell." _Oh no__. Coulson's going to have a field day with that when he's an adult_, the archer thought solemnly to himself. "He wanted to go, I let him, and he never reported back," he answered lowly. "Whatever is out there, we can't handle on our own. We're going to need to send you in. All of you." He paused. "And that means that Loki is left here by himself."

"What?!" Banner interrupted as the rest of the Avengers looked at him in complete appall and tried to speak in protest against his decision. "That's not happening!"

"Have you forgotten what he did?" Tony asked, glaring at the director. "He _stabbed_ Phil. Right through his chest. Almost _killed him, _and now you want to leave the demigod as his babysitter?!"

"It's not like Phil can't handle himself. Don't count him out too quickly." Romanoff scoffed.

"A kid. Against a demigod. What is going on with you? You can't leave him here alone with Loki!"

"I think that it may be the best idea," Fury said pointedly, giving her a look. "Loki claims he's here with good intentions. Let's see if he can prove it." Unbeknownst to them, their topic of discussion was standing idly in the doorway, feeling sick to his stomach.

Gone. They were all gone. All of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that they had sent, men and women he knew to be formidable, all wiped out. By what? And why? He barely suppressed a shudder and walked softly past them, instinctively reaching for his magic to help make himself not as noticeable. Only to be bitterly reminded that his magic was reduced to that which one would see a rabbit-in-the-hat magician do.

"Loki," Fury said, turning around to him and the demigod winced and stopped mid stride. "No need to go skulking around anymore, you're here as a guest."

"I...I couldn't help but overhear what happened with your agents," he said hesitantly, turning to face them. "I am sorry for their loss, but i know not what took them or what killed them, you must believe me." The earnest look of sympathy and innocence made them all certain that he was telling the truth, though with him they could never be sure. "I can tell you're not convinced."

"Again, kinda hard to trust the god of lies who just tried to destroy our home," Stark said, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. "Tell you what, Reindeer - "

"Please stop calling me that," Loki muttered, annoyed, but Stark just kept talking.

" - Oh come on you know you like it. Reindeer Games, we are going to go check out your cornfield again, so _you_..." he walked over to Loki and steered him to stand in the doorway to watch Phil, "Get to practice your babysitting skills."

"Babysitting?" Loki asked baffled, turning to look at Stark. "I don't understand that phrase, at least not in the way i believe it's meant..." Barton had a sudden need to cough and excuse himself from the room and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Please get a grip on yourself," she hissed as he came back in, mouth twitching. "It means you're going to be taking care of Phil for an indefinite period of time." Loki's eyes widened.

"Um, I don't know if that is really such a good idea, i don't know anything about children, and - "

"Loki, does it look like we're asking?" Steve asked, and they all turned to look at the demigod. Loki sighed at the reluctant, yet decisive looks on their faces. "And one thing: while we're gone, J.A.R.V.I.S. is going to be keeping us updated, so don't try anything. And if you let anything happen to him, i swear there will be nothing left of you for the Chitauri to come pick up." Loki raised an eyebrow at the super soldier's anger.

"Understood." Suddenly, Fury frowned.

"That can't be right..." he muttered craning his neck to watch Phil play.

"What?" Banner asked. "He's playing 'Heart and Soul.' It's a common beginners song, not that strange."

"Yeah, but i taught him that when he was _seven_," Fury protested, walking over to the door and humphing in bafflement. "He isn't any older...but how does he..." Stark pulled up an image on his phone.

"Well isn't that something," Tony said, truly amazed. "His memory's jumped two years." Loki's eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he watched the little boy swing his legs on the bench since his feet couldn't touch the ground and innocently played the piano. _An experiment gone wrong,_ the god thought. _Re-calibrated, growing memory...I wonder._

"Well, we need to ship out as soon as possible," Fury said turning to the group of people. "Go tell Phil what's going on and we'll be off." He turned and walked back into the room and out to the top floor where the quinjet was waiting, still thinking about what had happened.

Banner sighed and walked into the room, waving to get Phil's attention.

"Hey, Phil. Look, we're going to have to go away for a while. There some bad people out in Nebraska that we have to go take care of," the radiologist said, squatting down so he was at the boy's eye level. "You're going to be left with Loki, okay?" Phil nodded and he frowned in puzzlement.

"But didn't you just leave? To go off against some bad guys?" Bruce nodded, serious. "Why you gotta go again?"

"Because they are still here. We thought they were gone, but they weren't," he answered carefully. "Loki will take care of you, we promise that okay?"

"Okay," Phil nodded and Banner ruffled his hair before he walked back over to the doorway. Natasha, closely followed by Clint walked up to him and the archer picked the boy up and held him close.

"That demigod tries anything, go hide in the air vents, okay?" he whispered, turning his back to the god so the alien couldn't hear. "You'll be safe up there." He felt Phil's grip tighten on him and realized he was probably scaring him. "Don't worry about it. He probably won't but just to be safe."

"Yes, Clint," Phil whispered and was set back on the ground and Natasha kneeled before him and just looked at him carefully.

"You be careful. And have fun, alright? We'll be back before you know it." Phil nodded and Natasha leaned in and whispered something in his ear. "Again, if he tries anything, taser on my dresser."

"If he's dangerous, why am i going to be left with him? Is it cause you don't like me?" That fearful look came into his eyes and this time, Steve crouched by him.

"We absolutely like you Phil. You just have to trust us: we have to go do this. And Loki will take care of you," here, he looked up and made eye contact with said person. "He can protect you, okay. Don't worry." Phil nodded and the four of them stood and walked over to the door that Fury had left from and Tony seemed to waver on the brink of following. Then, he looked back at the seemingly even tinier Phil standing alone in the big room beside Loki.

"Aw, hell," he finally muttered and walked briskly over to Phil and wrapped him up in a quick hug. "Don't forget that J.A.R.V.I.S. can take care of you too. Just talk to him whenever you want, ask for updates on our status, et cetera." He stood up, gave a quick smile and walked out of the door ignoring surprise looks from his comrades. "What?! He was all alone and...innocent looking in there!"

"He puppy dog eyed you," Barton said, barely suppressing laughter. "You fell for the classic puppy eyes trick."

"I did not!" Tony protested, and, seeing the knowing looks of those around him, realized the Agent was catching up on the list of embarrassing things that had happened in this process.

000000

"So," Loki began awkwardly, looking down at the small boy beside him. "What now?" Phil looked up at him and saw a man who was uncomfortable adn out of his depth. He thought back to how mischievous he and Nick could be at times. He gave a small smile.

"Where you from? What're you doing here? Who you running from? Did you kill people and that's why they have to go and clean up your mess - " Loki sighed in annoyance and turned around to walk out of the room, a small child who's mouth was going at a thousand words a second following closely.

He was beginning to wish that he had stayed in the corn and tried his luck against the Chitauri on his own.


	12. Chapter 12: Norse and Outdoor Excursions

000000

"Why do you wear green?"

"Because."

"Why are you here?"

"Because," Loki answered through gritted teeth, sinking his fingers into the arm of the sofa to refrain from hitting the annoying child running around him in circles.

"Why do you answer all of my questions with because?"

"Because!" He was proud of himself for NOT shouting, but leaned forward to glare dangerously at the child for good measure. Unfazed, Phil looked at him in equal annoyance.

"Because is not an answer!"

"FINE! Because you are an annoying little child who won't stop asking me stupid questions!" Loki shouted back and Phil just looked at him, nonplussed.

"I just want to know more about you," he said slowly, looking at Loki carefully.

"If i answer your questions, will you stop asking me more?" the Norse god said, rubbing his head to get rid of the migraine he was developing.

"Maybe." Loki glared at the evasive answer.

"Fine," he responded, throwing his arms in the air and sitting back on the sofa, crossing one leg over his knee and giving the boy a level look. "Ask away."

Phil seemed to think.

"Why aren't you back home in Asgard?"

"Uh, h - how did you know that i was..." Loki began, taken aback.

"Kinda obvious. I over heard the others talking about Loki and Bifrost and stuff like that. Loki was a Norse God and Norse Gods live in Asgard. So are you from Asgard?" Loki paused and looked at the purely curious boy.

"I'm...yes. I'm Loki from Asgard," he replied finally. It wasn't a complete lie. "Anything else?"

"Why do you wear green all the time?"

"I...don't know. I like the color." Phil nodded and continued.

"Why are you here?" Loki stopped: he was stuck. "Who are you running from?"

"I - " he faltered and stopped. "I'm actually here because i need some help. I...messed up with my life, and...I'm looking to start over." Phil smiled.

"Like me." Loki shook his head.

"No. You're not responsible for your life being messed up. Others messed your life up. I messed up my own," he said gently, his anger melting away so quickly he had forgotten it was even there. Dang it, he liked his angry mode. And who was this little child who could dispel his anger so easily? It made him sick just for a split second to think that he had nearly killed this man. Then he told himself that Coulson had it coming. "What else do you want to know?"

"Do you like Earth?"

"It's...not my favorite planet that I've ever been to," Loki answered carefully.

"So you've been to other PLANETS?!" Phil practically shouted, excited. "What's it like? Who'd you meet? What's it smell like? What - "

_Shoot me now_...Loki thought to himself as the small chatterbox still spewed question after question at him.

"I have been to several, none of them nice places at all," he answered coolly and Phil stopped talking.

"Then why'd you go there?" he asked in a "stupid!" tone. "Why'd you go places that weren't nice?" Loki rolled his eyes. This kid was too curious and thought too logically for his own good.

"Because i thought i could fit in there when i couldn't fit in other places," he answered ambiguously and Phil rolled his eyes.

"Why can't you be more specific?" he whined, flopping down cross-legged on the ground.

"Because I'm the god of mischief and lies," Loki countered. "I'm entitled to some level of ambiguity." Phil made a small noise of aggravation and laid down on his back to stare up at the ceiling, counting the lights. He rolled onto his stomach and looked at Loki.

"I'm hungry." Loki stared at him baffled and taken aback.

"How am i supposed to know what to do?"

"I don't know, you're in charge," Phil responded, still looking at him.

"Well, when was the last time you ate?" the god asked, hoping it was one of those things where kids just ate all the time. Phil shrugged.

"I don't know." The god's eyes widened.

"You don't _know_? How can you not know when you last ate?"

"Because i haven't eaten since i woke up in that weird room," Phil answered with some heat. "And i don't even know why i was in there!"

"Calm down, will you?" Loki snapped back and stood up, walking away from the startled boy on the floor. "And don't talk to me!" Phil sat up and walked after the god, keeping his distance, but following none the less. Loki walked up to the thing that mortals called...what was it? a defibrillator? refibrigator? something like that. He opened it and raised his eyebrow. How was he supposed to know what was supposed to be eaten by a five year old? Loki turned around and saw that the child had pulled himself up onto one of the bar stools and was sitting quietly, looking at him.

"What do you eat for breakfast, well late breakfast as it is now?" Phil shrugged.

"Eggs? Cereal?" Loki had no idea what this cereal he spoke of was, but he definitely knew what an egg was. Huginn and Muninn, Odin's spy ravens, would lay eggs occasionally. He picked up the small egg from the tray on the side of the refrigerator - THAT'S what it was called, he remembered now - and placed it before the boy tentatively. Phil raised an eyebrow at him and looked up and down between the confused, uncomfortable god and the egg before him.

"I can't eat that," he said finally, bursting out into a fit of giggling, the Norse god saw.

"It's an egg," Loki said, in an obvious tone, standing there in his armor still and hands behind his back.

"Yeah, but i can't eat a raw egg," he said slowly as though speaking to an idiot. Loki rolled his eyes.

"Then, what do you do with eggs?" he asked in the same tone.

"Well, cook them obviously," he responded slowly. "You know how to cook right?" Loki glared at the child.

"Of course i do!"

000000

_10 minutes later..._

The Norse god hissed in frustration as a fifteenth egg shattered in his hand over the metal skillet that the boy had identified for him as a frying pan. The only reason he knew it was a frying pan? He and his friend played baseball with them once when they couldn't find his bat. And his mother had subsequently yelled at him for using her frying pan for such an unconventional purpose.

"You really don't know how to cook do you?" Loki ignored Phil as he twirled around in circles on the bar stool. The world spinning in a funny, yet wonderful sensation, the boy stopped himself from moving and looked up in time to see Loki putting a match to the oil in the pan. "YOU DON'T PUT THAT THERE YOU'LL - "

A loud _whoosh_ was heard and the flames spurt up out of the frying pan making the god jump and Phil stiffen, sitting straight upright on the stool, eyes wide. An awkward silence stretched out between them and Phil released a slow breath.

"That...was SO COOL!" he cried and Loki looked around at him, alarmed at the child's propensity to like dangerous things. "Can we do it again? After we eat?"

"I can't cook!" Loki protested. "I keep trying, i'm likely to blow the whole tower up!" Phil looked at him confused.

"But if you're a god, don't you know everythi - "

"We don't use this complicated process in Asgard! How on earth am i supposed to feed you?!"

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Phil asked looking up, smiling.

"Yes, Agent Coulson?"

"Can you talk Loki through how to make scrambled eggs?" he asked, spinning around again. "He's a _god_ and he can't figure it out," he teased underhandedly and said god glared at the child. Loki looked at the mess before him and sighed.

"Certainly. You take the egg and place it on the..." the AI's voice started and Phil had the biggest laugh attack, and subsequent "laughter cramp" as he would later call it, in his life as he watched the scene before him.

_15 minutes later..._

"Fine! Here's your stupid egg!" Loki spat and slid the plate over to the child walking over to the bathroom to wash all of the nasty yolk off of his fingers and rid himself of the stupid smell that came with that food. Honestly, it made him want to throw up. When he came out, he stopped, looking around in mild concern.

"Coulson?" he asked, noting the empty plate sitting in the sink. "Coulson, right now i really am not in a gaming mood. Where are you?" He heard a slight giggle from the hallway and walked over that way. "Coulson?" No answer. "what a nightmare this will be when you're an adult again..." he muttered turning around and walking back into the main sitting area, sitting down on the couch and grabbing the first book he saw. Some strange book called _Breaking Dawn_...these were chess pieces on the front. Maybe it was a strategy novel? Oh well. Might as well entertain himself with something.

By page 15, he couldn't even begin to comprehend why this...this _abomination_ was in the tower and then realized that Pepper might read them. Or...wait. He began flipping through the book and noticed all along the bottom corners of each page, someone had been drawing humorous interpretations of what happened throughout the book. Okay. Maybe this was here because Natasha and Clint were working on it. Yep. that was definitely Natasha, he surmised from what Clint had told him during the attempted world domination fiasco. Who else would draw a pregnant woman that looked like _that?_ He sighed, shook his head and let his hand idly float over the page as he fought the temptation to burn it to ashes. It would be so simple...and not to mention putting a poor tree out of its misery.

Then again, if he did, he would probably get killed by the two assassins so he contented himself with hurling it across the room. To entertain himself, he held his hands out in front of him and squinted at the space between, watching with accomplishment as ice grew between his palms. Then, he felt a rush of fearful adrenaline and snatched his hands away from it as they turned blue, the ice crashing to the floor and shattering.

"No. I'm not going to be like them," he whispered and his skin turned back to its "normal" shade.

"You're...blue..." came a scared voice and he saw Phil standing there staring at him wide eyed and terrified. "You're not Loki, then."

"No, I am Loki. I am, see?" the god responded, standing up. Phil started and took a step back.

"You're an alien. Are you one of those that the others went to go fight?" he asked, rapidly growing more and more scared. Loki rolled his eyes.

"No. They are the chitauri. I am Loki."

"No. No, you're not," Phil said, backing away and running to try and get bedroom to get to the vents like Clint told him. He gave a small yelp though as Loki materialized in front of him, skidding to a stop. The god raised an eyebrow.

"Still convinced that I'm not Loki? I can do magic if that's what you're thinking makes me " Phil just stared at him wide eyed.

"No?" Loki sighed in annoyance and walked off to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the counter, coming back and setting it in Phi's hands.

"Watch the cup," he said seriously and put his hand on it. In the blink of an eye it was gone and Phil jumped, looking up at him.

"WOW!" he said excitedly, running off around the room trying to find it. "Where'd you send it? Where is it?" Loki couldn't help but give a small laugh at the sight of the baffled child running around trying to find the elusive cup.

"Why don't you go to your room, Phil," Loki said pointedly and Phil stopped and looked around at him, baffled. Then an incredulous but wondrous look appeared on his face adn he ran off down the hall, and Loki began mentally counting down. _3...2...1..._

_"_WHOAH! HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" And the patter of feet came back at him down the hall as Phil returned, cup in his grasp. Loki smiled slightly as the boy handed the glass back to him. "How'dyoudoithow'dyoudoithow'dyoudoit - "

"Fine!" Loki laughed and the boy stopped bouncing around in front of him. "I'm not really from Asgard. I'm from Jotunheim, and I'm actually a Frost Giant. My people have a past in magic."

"So...that was _real_ magic?" Phil asked, awed, looking up at him. Loki made a small scoffing noise.

"what you call magic, we call science, son of Coul," he replied and walked forward to the room where the piano was, light emanating from him and turning his armor into the simple green and black clothing he had been wearing in Germany. "What do we do now?" Phil looked at him and outside.

"I'm bored. Can we go outside?" Loki looked at him concerned.

"I don't think going outside may be the best idea. I'm a god who has no idea how this world works and you, well...that's another story."

"Pllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaassssss seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - "

"Fine!" Loki snapped, throwing his hands up. What else was he supposed to do? Phil smiled and ran to the elevator, dragging the Norse god along with him. this was _certainly_ going to be interesting...

000000

"What on earth is that?"

"That's a taxi. Don't you have taxis on Asgard?" Phil asked loudly over the din of the traffic and other people looked at them strangely, parents pulling their children away from the tall, dark haired man.

"I think that's him," he heard a few people whisper and he looked down at his charge to see if he had heard. But the child was still staring around himself in pure curiosity at the allure the outside, city world held. Childhood innocence.

Loki only wished that lasted forever.

"Excuse me," came a rough voice and a calloused hand spun Loki around, making the god draw himself up to his full height in defense. "You know, you look a lot like a man we had here some months ago." Around them, people were slowing down to stop and stare. Loki shifted on his feet and looked around to where Phil last was. the child was vanishing in the crowd.

"Hey, look at me!" the man snapped and Loki looked back around to the man. "You know who I'm talking about?"

"No, I'm afraid you don't. An unfortunate look alike I'm afraid," Loki turned back around and was about to walk off when the man grabbed his arm and twisted him back around.

"I was IN Stuttgart, moron!" he shouted again and Loki tensed, looking down at the man. "I recognize that voice. You _are _him." Loki jerked his hand away and looked the man levelly in the eyes.

"You are...mistaken. It is simply an unfortunate mistake that i look like the man who tried to take over your world recently." With that he turned around and began pushing through the stopped crowd to get to Phil. This was not good.

"YOUR world?! It's _our_ if you were HUMAN!" the man shouted and Loki began walking faster, grabbing Phil's hand as he saw the boy about to vanish into the copse of trees by the park. Phil started and turned around, smiling when he saw who it was.

"Phil, this was a bad idea we need to go," he said, looking over his shoulder to find the man approaching them still.

"Hey, Loki, what's taking you so long?" the boy asked innocently within earshot of their opponent and the man began running towards them.

_Crap._

"Run," Loki said softly, grabbing Phil's hand and tearing off into the crowd practically dragging the confused child after him.


	13. Chapter 13: Thanos

**_A/N: No idea what Thanos can do or any of that jazz. I'm basically just creating stuff about him and i mean no offense to people who actually read the comics and know all about this character. Sorry if i offend. :)_**

000000

"Loki!" Phil panted, still staggering after the god. They had been pushing and shoving through the crowds at a breakneck speed and it was beginning to show for the little boy. "Loki, slow down! Why're we running? I'm tired!" Loki ignored him and yanked him around a corner, the child almost losing his balance and letting go of the god's hand. "Loki!"

"Not right now, you annoying child," Loki muttered to himself, looking over his shoulder to see the man racing after them.

"He's the one who destroyed this city! he's the one who wanted to take us over! he's responsible for the deaths of our friends and family!" he shouted and other people began joining him in the chase.

"Damn," he whispered and began weaving back towards Stark Tower. "Phil, you need to keep up!" he shouted over his shoulder as the tired child began falling behind.

000000

Phil panted and tried to keep up with the tireless, fast adult and found that he couldn't. With the first few wheezing coughs he got when he ran a lot, the boy began slowing down to a jog.

"Loki!" he called again, but all he caught was something muttered about an annoying child. He couldn't even continue to jog at this point and slowled down to a walk, trying to start up running again and failing dismally. "LOKI!" he shouted and waited in vain for his companion to come back around the corner. He looked over his shoulder and saw the men who had been chasing them come running over.

"You! Hey, kid! Come here!" the leader shouted and Phil turned and continued running, ignoring the coughs. Who were these men? What did they mean that Loki had tried to take over the world? "KID! STOP!" He was too slow and he felt a strong grip close on his upper arm, stopping him cold.

"Let me go! Please! He's not bad, he just wants a new start! Please, let me go," he heard himself babbling and when the man loosened his grip, he sent his foot crashing painfully (for both) into his shin and took off running. He didn't look back and ran around the corner into Loki who was running back around to get him.

"Will you please keep up?" he whispered, exasperated, grabbing Phil's hand and preparing to run again.

"They - they're coming," Phil panted and the god looked around the corner and made his decision. "Who are they?" Loki closed his eyes and Phil gaped as fifteen identical Loki's turned to face him, all raising a finger to their lips in the universal signal for silence. As one they all stepped out into the alley.

"Stop." All of the men skidded to a halt, staring at their now multiple opponents in fear. "Turn around and go on your way. I will be merciful and allow you to live."

"Why are you back here? You planning to take us over again? Cause the Avengers will stop you!" the original man shouted and the Lokis raised their heads slightly.

"That is not your concern. Do not tell anyone of my presence," he warned, raising a hand threateningly towards them and they all cowered. "Or the consequences...will be dire." The calm way it was delivered was enough to scare the living daylights out of their pursuers and they all began pushing each other, trying to be the first one out of the alleyway. Loki scoffed and all of his copies disappeared and he turned to look down at Phil.

"Come, Phil. It's not safe for us to be out here right now. Maybe when the others come back." The child nodded, still looking after the men who had been chasing them. HE couldn't help but feel a sense of worried awe at the power that his friend had over the people. What was it that had happened before?

000000

"Who were they?" he asked softly as they walked together through the streets, more wary now of those who were looking at them.

"People who have every right to be suspicious of me," Loki answered, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder to steer him clear of the bustling, mindless herds of people shoving by them. "Don't worry about it. You'll be fine."

"Why did they say that you had tried to take over the world?" he asked again, feet dragging with exhaustion. Loki didn't answer. "I'm tired. I don't wanna walk anymore." Loki stopped and looked down at him and sighed. Stark was right to fall for those puppy eyes.

"Just this once," Loki warned, picking the boy up and carrying him the final block down to Stark's tower. He tried not to feel embarrassed at the way that the boy buried his head into his shoulder and fell asleep almost immediately. Impossible these humans were. He walked up to the door and entered, J.A.R.V.I.S. letting them in. In the elevator, he tried to shake Phil awake but the small human was a dead weight in his arms. He looked down at the peaceful face and again felt that twinge of guilt at having attacked this innocent creature. _No _not_ innocent_, he reminded himself. _He was an _enemy_. He had it coming! _But he looked so innocent!

A sudden cough broke the silence into a million pieces though and Loki jumped, turning around to see Pepper standing in front of the door. Apparently the elevator had opened with out him noticing. That couldn't be good: his senses must be deteriorating.

"What are you doing here?" she asked dangerously. "what are you doing with Phil?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Her voice continued to escalate in volume and Loki tried to open his mouth and explain. "J.A.R.V.I.S _WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR SAFETY PROTOCOLS, LOKI IS IN THE TOWER!" _she screamed and was about to hit the god over the head with her shoe when a calm voice interrupted her.

"Ms. Potts, he is supposed to be here." She looked around in disbelief at Fury who was standing there behind the counter. "That was the second part of the situation i was going to tell you." The Director's one eyebrow rose in critique at the god. "_What_, just out of curiosity, possessed you to go outside? the people aren't going to forget you that easily."

"_he_ wanted to go outside and, honestly, i couldn't handle being cooped up in here for another minute. All he was doing was asking question after question," Loki protested, walking past Pepper and laying Phil down on the sofa, waving his hands so that a blanket appeared out of no where and softly dropped over the boy.

"Why is he taking care of Phil? Did you call me all the way from California to show me that a dangerous man is taking care of your best friend who he tried to _kill?!_" Wisely, the S.H.I.E.L.D. member chose to ignore her.

"Next time, don't try and destroy a world and expect to be able to walk amongst the people a year later," Fury admonished, gesturing for him to come over. "We need to talk."

"Where're the others?" Pepper asked, putting as much distance between herself and the god, making the latter sigh in frustration. "Tony, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Clint...where are they?"

"We've lost all contact." Pepper looked at him in frightened disbelief.

"What?"

"Hawkeye sent one last transmission saying things were too serious and that they were falling back. Never heard back." Loki looked down and back up in an involuntary gesture of knowing something he hadn't talked about yet. "Something you need to say, Loki?" The god shook his head and looked over at the massive glass wall.

"I don't have anything."

"No idea about who this man is?" Fury slid a picture from Stark's suit over to him. He froze. "I take it you do." Loki still hesitated. "What is his name?" He finally decided that it was time.

"His name is Thanos. He was who i was working for originally." He sighed. "He's the one who's here to kill me."

000000

**(A/N: Jumping back in time a bit)**

Stark pulled up to a hovering stop above the corn field, using infrared scans to try and find any sort of body heat. There was none.

"We got nothing," he said down to the others and fought the urge to roll his eyes at Roger's skeptical response.

"Are you sure? This isn't going to be like the time with those terrorists when you said you had nothing and we ended up almost getting mowed by machine guns?"

"I'm POSITIVE, Capsicle, now stop being a grumpy old man and get in there. I'll still cover you from the top," Stark answered, flying off to check the perimeter. "I'm getting some sort of reading. Not heat though. It's cold. Complete...wait - absolute zero. I thought that was impossible! Am I the only one seeing this?" Romanoff slowed the plane and all of them crowded behind her and Barton to watch the ice ripple out from a spot on the field, freezing and killing anything that it touched. From her seat on the chair in the cargo part of the jet, Maria Hill shivered and looked straight ahead of herself, fear shining bright in her eyes. A loud howling sort of noise shattered the air and it drove sharp spikes of pain, suffering, and death into the hearts of the Avengers, making Banner look painfully uncomfortable, clenching and unclenching his hands.

"Easy, Banner," Rogers warned, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Just wait until we're down and in the corn to let him out." Banner nodded tensely and then gave a forced laugh.

"Don't worry. It'll take more than this to trigger me," he said softly, looking at the desolation. "What is going on? What is that noise?"

"Sounds like something out of hell," Barton said, checking their altitude and speed.

"Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death." They all looked over their shoulders in surprise. "Of blood and death."

"That's Shakespeare, isn't it?" Barton said over the noise.

"Hill?" Rogers asked carefully walking over to kneel before her. "What is it?"

"Blood and death," she repeated, looking at him, terrified. "Death. It's him."

Outside, Stark landed on the ground, feet shattering the fragile ice plants like the paper thin glass models they were. The ground was solid ice and completely, absolutely dead. A dark sense of foreboding filled him as he continued to walk forward, mind racing a thousand miles an hour.

"There is no way in the world that i'm going to be doing this again. No way i'm going in corn," he muttered and rolled his eyes as Steve barked down at him,

"Just stayed focus!"

"Fine! I won't chit chat on the communications channel! Just trying to lighten things up down here." Stark froze as he felt himself step on something that didn't crumble completely. Taking a deep breath, he slowly looked down and stopped breathing, moving his foot aside.

A hand. An arm. A shoulder. A head. He looked all around him and saw the terrified looks of horror and deadly fear frozen forever on their faces. he had found the lost agents. All 15 of them.

"Stark to Rogers," he croaked, backing away.

"What is it, Tony?"

"I found the agents," he continued, forcing himself to walk forward and look through the bodies, Sitwell's image up on his screen. He sighed in sadness and stopped. "They're all dead. I got Sitwell's body here." A loud torrent of the horrific noise came forward again and Stark shot up into the air. "Okay, it's getting a little too creepy down here, i need some back up."

"what do you mean dead, what happened to them?" Steve asked, standing.

"Ice. Alive to Stone," came Hill's scared voice. "Stay away from there," she cried suddenly, standing unsteadily and walking over to the cockpit. "Don't go there, please, don't go there."

"What's there, Agent Hill," Romanoff asked seriously, leaving the controls to Clint and standing to face her. Hill looked at her in a dazed manner. "Agent, I'm ordering you to do your duty. What's down there?" she asked harshly. Something shifted in Hill's eyes.

"I don't know. He was big. And broad. He - he wasn't from here," she answered unsteadily. "He said he was here for the Tesseract's carrier. Said that we weren't him - and then the ice just. He froze them. God, it was - " Romanoff led her over to a seat and helped her strap in. "Rogers, we can't handle this right now. We need more back up."

"What back up?" he asked in disbelief, turning to her. "You saw what happened to all of the others. There is no back up."

"We can't handle this," she responded lowly. "It was enough to traumatize Hill, enough to kill 15 agents before any of them could do anything. Enough power and strength to achieve _absolute zero_, Captain do you even know what that is?"

"Very cold?" he tried and she rolled her eyes.

"It's the temperature in which all molecules stop moving. No energy." Steve stopped in his protests. "We can't handle this. We need to go back, and try something else. Call Stark back in or i will." rogers held up his hands in defeat under the Russian woman's glare.

"Fine. Stark, pull out. We need a different plan."

"Can't argue with that one," Tony replied, flying back. "I don't think that i will be able to look at corn any more."

"tell Fury that we're coming back. Lack of complete information makes an attack unwise," Steve ordered and Barton nodded.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. this is Agent Barton. We're coming back."

"Acknowledged," came another voice that they didn't recognize. It was deep and cold. "You _are_ coming back."

"Who is this?" Romanoff asked, picking up the conversation. A sickening laugh echoed towards them.

"Death. And none can escape me." They all started as the plane rocked and ceased moving in the air, slowly drifting backwards towards the ground.

"BARTON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" came Tony's loud voice and Barton busied himself with flipping switches and trying to jerk the plane free. "BARTON! TURN THE PLANE **AROUND,** NOT **REVERSE**!"

"I'm not doing anything! Repeat i have lost control of the plane!" Barton said loudly into the ear piece. "S.H.I.E.L.D. this is Agent Barton. we are caught and going down - " Out of nowhere dark clouds rolled in. Loud thunder rumbled throughout the air and Romanoff gave a small smirk as lightning flashed around them.

"Good timing, Thor." A loud bang sounded on their plane and the back of the plane was ripped open. Their relieved expressions turned to ones of concern. Thor looked like hell. Literally. He was tired, and all beat up with wounds that obviously had just healed.

"COME ON!" he roared, gesturing for them to come to him. "DOCTOR!" Banner nodded and closed his eyes, morphing into the massive Hulk before them and grabbing Hawkeye and Romanoff in each arm before lumbering off towards the exit, leaping as far as he could and rolling across the ground to absorb his momentum. Stark landed in the back of the plane and grabbed Hill while Thor grabbed Rogers. As they landed beside Hulk, they looked up at the plane. Slowly, it was turned into a cold ice, death emanating from it and it was violently thrown into the ground where it shattered into a million tiny pieces.

"Thor, what is going on here?" Rogers asked turning to face him. Thor shook his head wearily.

"Thanos: death and mortality. It is no longer safe here. We must get away from this place. Doctor Banner? Can we return?" he asked pointedly and the Hulk, in response, grabbed Romanoff and Barton before leaping off into the distance, the god with his passenger and Stark with Hill following.


	14. Chapter 14: Laughter

**A/N: sorry for the delay! working on another story for Avengers and have two tests coming up. *sigh* i should be working on studying for those...BUT THIS IS SO MUCH MORE FUN!**

000000

Half an hour passed and Phil opened his eyes, completely reenergized. Something was different though. Something felt...wrong.

"Hey, Phil," a voice that sounded broken said and he looked over to the chair to see Pepper seated there, a tissue clenched tightly in her hand. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah. Loki and i were running a lot outside. Some people were chasing us," he said brightly. "It was kinda scary...but fun!" Pepper fought the urge to laugh, for fear it would turn into a sob or a tearful wreck. No wonder he was one of the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around. You had to like being chased to be so good at doing what the government agency did. She settled with a smile in his direction and went back to staring at her lap.

"I'm sure it was fun," she finally said softly, nodding slightly. Phil tilted his head to the side and stared at her baffled. Why was she so sad?

"You okay?" he asked tentatively in the classic nervous little kid voice. Pepper looked up and at the little boy staring at her with wide innocent eyes. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes. Yes, i'm fine Phil. I just hope they get back soon." SHe stood up and walked over to the giant glass wall and stood there, folding her arms over her chest to try and drive out the coldness she was feeling deep inside. Head still tilted to the side, Phil walked over to her and gently tugged on the hem of her dress. She looked down at him in surprise. "what is it?"

"do you want a hug?" Pepper's heart melted and she knelt down beside Phil.

"Sure, Phil. I'd love a hug," she said gently and Phil felt himself picked up off the ground and held in a tight hug by the woman. "I'm scared, Phil," she admitted. "I'm worried for Tony. I'm worried for Bruce, for Steve, for Clint...Natasha. I'm worried."

"they're _super heroes!_" Phil said proudly. "They're invincible!" Pepper's eyes grew sad.

"I wish they were, Phil. I wish they were." Phil leaned back in her arms to look her in the face.

"What happened to them?"

"They - they went missing, Phil. Don't worry. They'll be okay." It didn't take a genius to tell that she was saying it more for herself and it was even more obvious that she didn't believe in her own words. They stood there for a while until Phil said, slightly muffled,

"Can i get down now?" Pepper laughed.

"Sorry, Phil. I'm probably making you feel uncomfortable." Phil nodded and she set him on his feet. "Why don't you go find Fury? I know he's somewhere in here." Phil nodded and scampered off, trying not to slip in is socks on the smooth floor.

"Mr. Fury? Mr. Fury? Top secret government agent pirate person?" he called and stopped as he saw Fury talking to Loki by the piano. He looked at the long stretch of smooth hardwood floors and his feet. And smiled.

"You're telling me Thanos is the reincarnation of death and mortality?" Loki sighed in aggravation.

"He's the personification of it, but it's close enough."

"And if this guy got hold of my team?" Fury asked seriously. Loki looked down and back up at the tall man.

"If Thanos got them," the god said reluctantly and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. If he got them, there is no chance of them coming back." Suddenly, a child's delighted laughter came to them and they turned around in time to see Phil run onto the wood floors and stopping, sliding across the floor using his socks. However, his plan of stopping before the two adults failed dismally and he crashed into Loki's legs who then proceeded to fall on top of Fury, landing all three of them in a heap on the floor.

"Found you!" Fury let his head fall back down on the floor and released a frustrated breath. This was not what he wanted to be dealing with right now.

"Is everyone okay?" came Pepper's voice and she came around the corner to see Fury flat on his back looking ready to kill something, Loki propped up against the piano leg, laughing lightly and Phil seated cross legged between the two, laughing along with the god.

"You laugh funny," Phil giggled, pointing at Loki and the god looked affronted.*

"My laugh is not funny!" he protested.

"Yeah it is!" Phil protested, folding over with laughter. "But it's funny in a good way! You make me laugh more when you laugh! It sounds like - like 'ehhehehe'!" Phil broke down laughing even more, and Fury even began laughing at which point Phil sat bolt upright again, staring at him with wide eyes and fighting to keep his smile from splitting his face.

"YOU SOUND LIKE A GOAT!"** he shouted and fell over on his back laughing with Loki while the Director looked at them, baffled.

"Excuse me?!" It sounded very much like the excuse me he used when he asked Thor if humans came to Asgard and blew stuff up. "I do not sound like a goat, Philip J. Coulson!"

"Yes you do!" Phil protested, pointing at him again. "You do, you totally do!" Even Loki was nodding, trying to breath between laughs.

"That's it, come here!" Fury play growled and lunged for Phil but the boy scampered to his feet and ran out of the room laughing, Fury chasing him.

"You have a goat laugh!" he shouted, sing-songy.

"I DO NOT SOUND LIKE A GOAT!"

"YES YOU DO!" Finally regaining his breath, Loki stood up and sat on the piano bench, making room for Pepper who came and sat next to him.

"I can see why those two were such great friends when they were little," she commented as the two barreled past the open door. "It's like Fury's young again when he's with him..." she trailed off and grew somber again. "What are the chances of them coming back?" Loki looked over at her and subconsciously reached out to put a hand over hers and she was surprised when it wasn't cold like she expected it to be, but rather warm and comforting.

"they know how to handle themselves, i know that for sure. First hand experience, actually." His joke fell on deaf ears and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Don't worry. I'm sure they can make it back." Pepper nodded and she laughed as she saw Phil come sliding back into the room to hide behind them, breathing heavily and still laughing.

"Is Fury still chasing you?" Pepper asked playfully, reaching over to ruffle his hair. he smiled and nodded, panting. Fury came walking into the room, phone to his ear, all past exhibits of playfulness gone.

"Understood. Do you know where they are now?" Pepper pulled Phil into her lap and grew tense.

"Oh god," she whispered and rested her chin on top of Phil's head holding him close, muttering to herself, "Please, god please, let them be okay. Let them be okay..." Loki looked over at Phil who was looking uncomfortable again and the god smiled comfortingly at him. He then looked to the woman.

"I'm sure that they'll be okay, Ms. Potts," Loki said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And...Phil's looking rather uncomfortable again. He's just too polite to say anything." Pepper smiled and let go of Phil and he hopped off onto the floor, walking over to stand a little off to the side and behind Fury, hands behind his back, looking up at him.

"Oh my god," Pepper said, smiling through her misted eyes. "He looks just like his older self there! Get me a camera, quick!" Loki looked at her, confused.

"What is a camera?"

"For claiming to be so advanced you people are really behind," she teased, leaving the room and coming back with a strange metal thing. "_This_ is a camera." She quickly turned it on, zoomed in and snapped the photo before Phil could run and hide from her again. "Got it. See? You can capture pictures in this," she explained, handing it to Loki who stared at it baffled. The red head gave a short laugh and looked around at the skyline.

"You keep staring into the sun waiting for them, you're going to make yourself blind," Fury said, hanging up on the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent he was talking to.

"Did you find any news on them?" she asked anxiously. Fury sighed and shook his head.

"Sort of. We sent out another plane to the corn fields - "

"Are you that stupid?" Loki asked, standing and glaring at the man. Fury glared back, used to using his height as an intimidation factor. Loki scoffed. "We're both 6' 2'', so don't try to stare me down it's not going to work. Why would you send more men where the others have already vanished?"

"We had to see if there was a wreck. We just passed over nothing else," Fury replied in kind. "And we found one. Everything...frozen solid and shattered. Along with signs of biological remnants that Stark managed to identify for us before they went missing too: it's the first team we sent. There's no sign of anyone else." Pepper was torn between sighing with relief and mourning for those agents that they had lost.

"I was just talking with Agent Sitwell's assistant mentor," Fury said solemnly. "I would be talking with his primary mentor, but..." he looked over his shoulder where Phil was stacking wooden blocks in the other room to make a small city. "He's currently indisposed."

"What happened?" Loki asked and Fury sighed, rubbing his head.

"He's dead. Along with all of the others." Phil rose and walked over to the doorway, standing there, hiding behind the door frame and watching them. Pepper covered her mouth in horror and Loki looked down. "I've got to tell Phil that Sitwell's dead when he's an adult again. That's not going to be easy."

"Sitwell..." Phil said sadly, brokenly, and the adults turned to him, surprised. Fury walked over to him and knelt by him, holding him out at arms length, hands on the boy's shoulders.

"What can you tell me about Agent Sitwell?" Phil had a strange, distant look in his eyes and he seemed to be staring at something none of them could see except himself. "Phil?"

Images flashed in the boy's mind and he said haltingly,

"The Consultant mission." Pepper gasped. "Thor. Item...47." Fury tightened his grip on the boy's shoulders as his small frame rocked forward slightly. "My head hurts," he whimpered and Fury reached out to see if he had a temperature. Nothing. The child closed his eyes tightly and rubbed his forehead, trying to drive out something. "Friend. Colleague." He shuddered.

"Phil, who is Agent Sitwell?" Fury asked again, watching him carefully and the boy's brow cleared and he looked at Fury curiously.

"I don't know, who _is_ Agent Sitwell?" The adults looked at each other baffled, even Loki.

"Never mind," Fury answered, standing and patting Phil's shoulder. "Do you want to play the piano?" Phil shook his head.

"I'm hungry again." Fury looked at his watch.

"Well, it is 12:30, so i guess lunch wouldn't hurt." He looked at Loki and the god raised his hands.

"_No_. I almost destroyed the kitchen trying to cook those tiny things you call eggs this morning. The _A.I._ had to talk me through it!" Pepper sighed and walked into the kitchen shaking her head playfully.

"Why is it you men don't know how to cook? I got Tony to do it once, and let's just say i put it in the hazardous waste bin in his lab." She walked around the corner and looked over to where Phil was humming to himself and drawing. "Is a sandwich okay for you Phil? I can make peanut butter and jelly."

Phil looked around at her. "I'm allergic to peanuts."

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Well that's good to know. How about grilled cheese?" Phil nodded.

"Yes please, thank you," he said politely and went back to his humming and drawing. Loki was standing still by the doorway, watching the scene and walked into the room only to hear Phil's voice yell at him,

"DON'T MOVE!" Loki froze and walked back to where he had been standing.

"Why can't i move?" he asked, careful not to budge from his position as he asked. Phil scribbled and made careful lines before answering.

"You'll mess up my picture." From her position by the stove, Pepper began laughing silently at the image the two posed: the artists fervently drawing and the god standing stock still as though he were a statue. And even funnier was that Loki was sitting on the sofa, reading another random book from the stack she kept there and the person actually in the doorway was another mirage. She wondered idly how long it would take Phil to figure out that Loki was sitting right in front of him. Give it three seconds. _Three, two, one - _

"Wait a MINUTE!" Yep, Phil just figured it out. "How do you do that!?"

"I'm a god. What can't i do?"

"Can you resurrect people?"

"Ah, no - "

"Can you make me immortal?"

"No - "

"Can you - "

"OKAY, FINE! Maybe i can't do everything!"

000000

Fury was talking on the phone again. Go figure. Did that guy ever rest? Loki wondered as he watched the Director paced back and forth in the hallway. He had found another one of the twilight books (it also had doodles all over it). What were these poor mortals reading?

"Thank you Pepper," Phil said softly, taking the plate offered to him and biting into the grilled cheese sandwich while he slid his drawing over to Loki and Fury started as the Loki in front of him vanished as he walked into the room.

"You're welcome, Phil," Pepper said, ruffling his hair as she walked back to make herself something. Loki picked up the drawing of himself and couldn't help but shiver at the near identical rendition. It was too close. Too good. his own eyes seemed to be staring back at him.

"Do you like it?" Phil asked, looking over at the god.

"It's...fantastic," the adult finally said. "How did you - this looks just like me." Phil smiled and continued eating. Pepper took her sandwich and moved to sit next to Phil and began building her own little city with the blocks, the boy soon joining in with her. She smiled at him and felt a sense of peace creep over her. This was the type of life she wanted with Tony, peaceful, happy, a nice family -

Something told her to look up. Something. She glanced out at the sun again and set her lunch down, standing, holding a hand up to shade her eyes.

"Who's that?" she asked aloud for everyone to hear and Fury looked over, saying something to the person on the other line and hanging up. Phil ran over to the glass and squinted into the sun.

"What's THAT?!" the boy shouted, pointing to something big and bulky that was leaping from the tops of the buildings towards the tower.

"That's...I think that's Banner - " Pepper said, stepping rapidly away from the glass, Fury pulling her over to the door. Loki began retreated backwards as well as they all could see that it was most definitely the Hulk with what appeared to be Natasha and Clint with him.

"It's Clint n' Tasha!" Phil said excitedly, pointing and Loki realized that the child hadn't moved away from the glass and the Hulk was seconds from smashing through.

"PHIL, MOVE!" he shouted and leaped forward, hoping that being a god would allow him to jump quicker than time allowed. There was a loud shattering of glass and the roar of the Hulk, and several other people's shouts of concern and pain filled the air.

***A/N: Am i the only one who finds Tom Hiddleston's laugh extremely funny and contagious?**

**** And for those who haven't heard Samuel L Jackson laugh in the Avengers bloopers: i'm not kidding. He sounds like a hysterically funny goat. Try and find it online.**

**And yes: evil cliff hanger. **


	15. Chapter 15: Prophetic

**A/N I just want to say thank you to all of my readers out there! I really appreciate the support! :D**

**Sorry for the delay: school + writer's block = not much done**

000000

All Phil heard was Loki shouting at him, Pepper's terrified cry, a loud shattering sound, and a roar that froze him to his very core. He looked around back at the window for a split second and saw the large, terrifying figure that he had seen leaping over the skyline about to crash through on top of him. Then, the world exploded in a pouring rain of glass, pain, and a single scream. One that he recognized but didn't.

000000

Pepper slowly lowered her arms from their defensive position before her face and tensed in terror as she saw Banner crouching on the ground, shaking his head in aggravation, eyes growing harder, angrier. He still hadn't changed out back to his human form yet, and she was beginning to grow worried.

"Bruce?" she whispered, but the monster before her made no sign that he had heard what she was saying. That couldn't be good. Tony came up to a stop and crashed down on the ground, Thor landing beside him. Steve immediately grabbed Hill and led her straight to the couch in the other room where he settled her down before hurrying back to the others. Romanoff had landed easily, somersaulting in her graceful manner to land on all fours, reaching out to help Barton up.

"Banner, you okay?" Tony practically panted and the Hulk's head whipped around to face the man, snarling and Tony backed up, hands at shoulder height. Thor panted and looked around through the haze to where he saw Loki crumpled on the floor, shards of glass sticking out of his thick armor.

"Loki!" Thor said, surprised, stepping forward, and the god of Thunder's brother painfully lifted his head up and looked around himself. Well, here they were, all safe and sound...Barton and Romanoff were wiping the glass off of their outfits and trying not to cut themselves any more than they were, and Steve was standing there relatively unscathed, like Tony, but very tired. More or less...

Loki painfully sat up and winced as different muscles were pulled from when Banner had crashed into him. He couldn't even bear to think of what might have happened had he not gotten over Phil in time. Had the Hulk crashed into the child instead. Wait. There was something missing...an endless chatterbox...Phil!

He quickly sat upright, trying to swat the thick air away so he could better see the limp form on the ground beside him. He gently turned Phil over to feel his heart plummet and his stomach start roiling with a sick feeling. A rather large shard of glass had embedded itself in the boy's collar bone, dangerously close to his throat.

"Oh my god, Phil!" Pepper cried, running over, closely followed by Steve, Fury, and the two assassins. Tony rolled his eyes, muttered something about accident prone kids, and stood just outside of Banner's reach, gently trying to get his friend's better side's attention. However, when he glanced over at the group of people, he did a double take at the size of the projectile.

"Holy _shit!_" he half-shouted, hurrying over, flipping his helmet up and looming over Hawkeye's shoulder.

"Thor, a healing stone," Loki ordered holding out his hand. "You must have one, traveling in your condition," he added without looking. Thor fumbled around, patting his armor until he found the small pouch he carried specifically for the small Asgardian remedy. Loki took it in his fist and squeezed tightly, rolling the smooth rock in his hand, holding steady above the wound.

The Hulk looked around at them and seemed to grow fearful and angry and Fury subconsciously put a hand on his pistol.

"You'd best get him better soon, Lafeyson," he muttered, looking over his shoulder at the Hulk. "I think Banner's taking this a bit hard. I think he's realized that he crashed through the glass and did this." Loki looked up and back down, trying to coax the rock to work faster with his magic.

"Is he going to be okay?" Steve asked, blanching a little at the glass protruding from his friend's skin, quickly turning red. Phil's eyes opened slightly as the first particles of the dust from the rock cascaded down onto his injury, glass melting away at a painfully slow rate, almost too slow to be noticed.

"My neck hurts, 'Tasha," he mumbled and Nat reached out and held his hand, shushing him and telling him to keep still. "I - I think I got a splinter..." She nodded, and couldn't refrain from laughing a little bit at the boy's gross understatement.

"Yeah, yeah you did. Big one too. Easy, Phil, you're going to be okay." Phil smiled ever so slightly and his eyes found Barton.

"Didn't have to...climb in the vents..." he whimpered slightly in pain as Loki gently touched the glass. The Frost Giant muttered an apology and gently held his head still as he tried to look at the god.

"Don't move, Phil," he muttered, focusing on his task.

"Loki was nice," Phil continued and they all felt a twinge of guilt at doubting the god. Then, Loki gave a small smile of triumph and backed away. Steve's eyes widened in wonder as the glass seemed to melt right away into boy's skin and he soon was sitting up, rubbing his neck. Phil busied himself with twisting his head every possible direction and feeling the skin that had been mangled by the glass before smiling widely.

"Cool!" Pepper gave a ragged sigh of relief.

"Yep, he's okay," she laughed and Fury had to agree with the way that she arrived at that conclusion. At Steve's baffled look, he explained Pepper's remark.

"He isn't really aware of the damage almost dying can have. He just finds it all fascinating. Always has." Steve rolled his eyes.

"No wonder he works for you people," the super soldier muttered, standing and looking in on Hill again before walking in again, carefully skirting Banner.

"Cool? How is that is any way cool?" Stark asked in disbelief. "You almost _died_ kid!"

"Yeah, but it was still cool!" Phil protested and the billionaire looked at Fury in shock.

"Was he like this when he died the first time?" Fury gave him a stern look and he shrugged. "What?!" Phil stood up, looking down as his feet crunched on the shattered glass.

"WHAT'S THAT?!" The Hulk looked around at Phil and made a noise of confusion, almost as though he was calming down though, instead of growing more angry due to being startled. Phil stood up, walking over to the Hulk very slowly, sneaker clad feet crunching over the glass. Banner gave a snort of caution and backed away a half step. As the boy continued forward, he snarled and took a full step towards him.

"Phil, that is not a good idea, back away," Fury ordered, but the boy still approached, head tilted to the side, curious. "Phil!"

"That _really is_ not a good idea," Loki contributed. "That _thing_ is very dangerous!"

"Phil, listen to Fury and Loki," Natasha said, hand going to the pistol at her side to prep her weapon for a quick draw. Phil looked over at her.

"But it's Bruce," he protested simply. Barton's eyes widened. "Why do you treat him like he's a mean person?"

"Well isn't he perceptive," he muttered and Nat elbowed him. Then, all the adults practically jumped as Phil slowly reached a hand out to the Hulk and Banner drew away, watching him carefully. "Um, Phil that is _really_ not a good idea." But their beloved Agent seemed to just be ignoring them and continued to walk forward.

"Hi, Bruce," he said, smiling and the Hulk came forward and stood up so that he towered above the child and looked down at him. Fury and the two agents began drawing their weapons out of their holsters, Steve prepped his shield, Tony flipped his helmet back down, and Thor tested the weight of his hammer. Then to everyone's relief the Hulk's skin color began to waver and he began to shrink. Soon, Banner was on his kneeling before the boy and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"You're insane kid," he croaked and gave him a hug that the boy returned, slightly baffled. When he pulled away, he looked at the adult slowly

"Whoa...COOL!" Pepper gave a ragged sigh of relief and Banner smiled wearily at the child before him. He reached out and poked the adult, confused. "Why aren't you green all the time?" Banner furrowed his brow and cleared his throat.

"Well, um..." he floundered for something to say and just ended up patting Phil's shoulders. "that's a long story Phil. Maybe one I'll tell you later."

"Again with the cool," Stark remarked as though it were lame. "Is that his response for _anything_ out of the ordinary now?"

"No, I don't use it to describe you do i?" he asked, looking around at Stark and Pepper clapped a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. Barton on the other hand, just let it all out, bending double as he couldn't breath.

"Barton," Nat said lowly, nudging him and he looked up to see everyone looking around at the door. Hill was standing there, looking vacant, eyes fogged over by some strange blue light.

"Hill," Fury said sharply and she turned her head to face him. Even the director had to force himself not to shiver at the dead gaze. "Whoever you are, leave my agent immediately."

"I am not yours to command," she said in her own voice and cold blue light seemed to radiate off of her, chilling the room. "I bring a message for Loki Lafeyson." Her shining blue eyes pinned down the god and he shifted nervously, taking comfort in his brother as Thor stepped closer to him, weighing Mjolnir in his hand. "Do not interfere, Odinson," her voice thundered and Thor crumpled to the ground unconscious. Steve stepped forward and her gaze swung to him too and he collapsed, followed by Tony, Bruce, Romanoff, Pepper, and Fury. Clint stepped close to Phil and the boy huddled in his arms, shivering, eyes wide as he watched his friends fall around him.

"Tasha?" he cried running over to the Russian woman and trying to shake her awake. "Steve? Bruce?" There was no response from any of them and the image of his mother flashed in his mind and he bit back tears, letting Hawkeye pick him up and hold him close.

"What are you doing to them?" the archer asked and at the moment she gazed at him, his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed, Phil falling out of his limp grasp and cutting his hands on the glass shards on the ground.

"Clint!" The boy scrambled over to his friend's side and tried to shake him awake like he had tried with Steve, Bruce and Tasha. "Clint! Wake up!" When nothing happened, he ran to the only remaining adult in the room: Loki. "Loki, I'm scared." The god reached down and picked up the child, holding him the way his mother would hold him when his father was angry at Thor, scaring him out of his mind.

"No one interferes." Loki stood there helplessly, terrified as the possessed Agent continued. "I carry a message for you Lafeyson. And you shall in time, decipher its meaning. It is approaching in the dark. Loki, you have met your mark. Your tale here's ending so don't cry, once you save his life four times." Loki shuddered as he realized his death had just been given to him. "You should know. This message was first revealed to the one who loves you still, and mourns you every day of her life."

_Mother, _Loki thought and stepped forward.

"Have you done anything to her?!" he shouted above the growing noise of the messenger and "Hill" scoffed.

"If i had, you would know about it. Remember, I will come for you once you save his life four times." The blue light rushed out of Hill's body and the agent looked around herself, lucid and back to normal, for a few seconds before her exhaustion kicked in and she too collapsed. The light raged towards Loki and Phil, the god turning away instinctively as the light flew out into the air, the sun lightening again, dissipating above the city.

As though burning its curse into the world around them. Making it inevitable. Inescapable. Permanent. Still holding Phil closely as the child shivered in fright, Loki forced himself to accept what he had been told.

He was going to be killed.

He, Loki, God of Mischief, immortal Asgardian Frost Giant, or whatever he was now, was going to die.


	16. Chapter 16: After Math

**Parents are constantly using my laptop recently. couldn't update for a while, sorry bout that!**

000000

"What happened to them?" Phil asked, looking around at the fallen adults. "They're all just...are they - "

"They're alive, Phil. I'm going to put you down now." Phil nodded but clung to the god's hand as soon as his feet touched the ground. "Phil, I'm going to need both of my hands for this." The boy looked almost tearfully reluctant. "We need to move them into their rooms, okay? I'll be doing the carrying, you'll be helping them stay on me. Can you do that for me?" Phil nodded, but looked thoroughly confused.

"But how are you going to pick up Steve and Tho- " he stopped and stared, eyes wide at the morphing thing before him, a giant wolf of monstrous appearance and he opened his mouth to scream when the wolf's head snapped around to him and gently nuzzled him. "L-Loki?" The wolf dipped its head once and moved over to Thor, nudging him and scooping the god onto his back after a lot of jerking and pulling with gentle bites to pull him on his back. Phil walked over and gently touched the wolf's thick fur and marveled at how soft it was. Then all of the facts started to build up in his tiny head.

"You're a wolf," Phil squeaked, looking at the god in terror. "You're blue...a god...and...a wolf." And with that, the boy too promptly keeled over. Said wolf seemed to glower and sighed heavily, padding off to the room that he had discovered was Thor's. Who else would paint the walls with Asgardian gold? He dragged his brother across the bed and walked out the door, morphing smoothly back into his humanoid form. He smiled down at Phil and picked the boy up, gently carrying him to his room and setting him down on the covers, pulling them up and over the small form.

"Sleep well, Phil," he said, smiling in spite of himself and walking out of the room, slowly closing the door. Then, his smile vanished and he slowly slid down the wall to rest his head on his knees. His own mother's prophetic words were ringing in his ears and he was feeling lost and overwhelmed. Was that all they wanted to show him? the Chitauri? Did they just want to show him the prophecy? Or were they his own killers? The ones who were supposed to bring death to him? And after he saved who four times? It was obviously a man. But who would he save four times?

Who?

000000

Pepper moaned slightly and rolled over. A bed. Why was she in a bed? She looked over and saw that Tony was snoring beside her, face smashed into his pillow. And why was she in bed with _Tony_? Not that she minded, but still...someone had to have brought them in here and the thought of that was a little disconcerting. Her head was pounding and she wanted more than anything to get up and grab an ibuprofen or something to get rid of the pain. Then, she looked back over at her sleeping lover and decided she could "sleep" a bit longer.

000000

Romanoff and Barton woke up looking straight at each other, faces inches away, and the archer hurriedly scrambled back and fell off the bed, moaning as his head, too, erupted in pain. Natasha rubbed her head and furrowed her brow to combat the same pain. She swung her feet out of the bed and then decided against it as her whole vision went upside down.

"Barton, if you want you can get on the couch over there," she mumbled before falling back in the bed and curling in on herself. Sleep sounded good right now. Vaguely she heard Clint stumble over to the small sofa his teammate had indicated and collapsed on the soft furniture, falling asleep again.

And around the tower, the same thing happened to the rest of the people, save for two. The child and the god of lies.

000000

"Sir, the Avengers, Director Fury, Maria Hill, and Ms. Potts seem to be waking up rather unsettled and in pain," J.A.R.V.I.S. said and Loki looked up from where he had been sitting in the hall. "Most are going back to sleep, but Hill seems to be walking around her room; and i believe that Agent Coulson is the one person who hasn't woken up yet." Baffled, Loki got up and walked back into the boy's room to see him sleeping peacefully, soft breaths the only noise in the silent room. Shaking his head in mild bewilderment, the god walked back into the hallway and suddenly realized he should probably check in on Banner. He had already faced the Hulk once, and didn't want to have to go through that again.

"Dr. Banner?" he said softly, opening the door. He quickly withdrew as a pillow was hurled at his head and the radiologist glared at him.

"Screw you and your otherworldly people..." the human growled burying his head in his other pillow and the blankets. Loki nodded to himself and closed the door. Yep. He was okay.

Then, suitably satisfied that the rest of the people were in fact okay, he walked out to the room where the avengers had landed. And froze as he saw Hill standing there, right at the edge of the window.

"Agent Hill," he said slowly. "Are you alright?" Hill looked around at him and shook her head.

"God, i don't know what happened to me. I feel...listless. Unmade." Loki walked up beside her and looked at her curiously. "Before you ask, no, i don't have a head ache right now." She sighed angrily and shook her head. "Why did i do that? why did i say those things to you?! They scared me as much as i know they terrified you, and don't try and deny it. I saw the fear in your eyes. But i couldn't control anything." Loki didn't answer but put a hand on her shoulder and led her away from the ledge. She scoffed. "Don't worry Asgardian. I'm not a jumper. I just like the feeling of floating. The feeling of being able to jump at any moment: the feeling of being on top of the world. But no, I'm not a jumper."

"I should hope not. S.H.I.E.L.D. would be losing a valuable asset," the god replied. "It would be best not to linger on the events that have just passed. Would you like to assist me with cleaning the room? I'm afraid our friends have rather trashed it." Hill nodded after giving him a suspicious look. She started slightly though as Loki conjured a broom out of mid air and gave it to the agent.

"How did you - "

"I can do that sort of magic," he responded quickly and began sweeping. "In fact, i could 'magic' this all away but i find the physical labor therapeutic at times. What do you think?" he asked, randomly shooting a question at her. Hill looked suitably startled.

"I - uh...I think that you are not quite what i expected," she answered and Loki scoffed.

"What, did you expect someone arrogant, turning their nose up at you every other moment, secretly plotting to take over the world again? I'm a refugee. A war criminal seeking asylum. I don't have room to be as people expected me to be." Maria nodded and began sweeping, Loki right along side her. And somehow, the simple act of moving her arm back and forth in a rhythmic motion brought her peace.

000000

Phil opened his eyes after sleeping for approximately ten minutes before he swung out of bed and ran out into the room to see Hill and Loki talking quietly by the kitchen island, eating some sandwiches that the agent had obviously made. Hill looked over at the sound of feet and smiled at the child, beckoning him over.

"Come on over, Phil. We were just talking about you." Phil ducked his head and cautiously came over, shy. "You didn't do anything wrong, don't worry." Phil immediately brightened and ran over, hopping up on one of the bar stools and swiveling back and forth.

"What were you talking about?" he asked curiously and Hill smiled as Fury came around the corner, rubbing his head.

"Oh, we're talking about you starting school," she said, pitching her voice so that her superior caught the sentence and the man face palmed. _Right__, _he thought to himself. _I'd forgotten about that_. Noting Maria's gaze, Phil looked around his shoulder and saw Fury.

"Hi Mr. Fury!" he called and waved at him. Fury gave a quick responsive smile before walking in and sitting down.

"Loki, I wanna know exactly why the hell i woke up with my head feeling like it was going to split in two," he growled, looking at the god.

"Language, sir!" Hill admonished but Phil interrupted.

"It's okay, my dad used to say a lot worse. but my mommy told me never to repeat what he said." Hill nodded in acceptance.

"Well, your mom was a smart woman." Phil smiled shyly in thanks.

"the reason for the headache was probably because Thanos was speaking through Hill. His voice can induce pain after hearing it. He knocked you all out though, so the effects were delayed. He was practically inside your heads," Loki responded, looking at the intricate granite on the counter.

"Then how come his head wasn't hurting like ours? If it was, we would have heard something," Fury countered, pointing at Phil. Loki shrugged.

"I don't know. Thanos spared him the pain, and that makes me _very_ worried." A long silence stretched out between them and then Phil spoke up.

"So am i going to go to school?" Fury nodded.

"We enrolled you at Bayard Taylor Elementary. It will be a good fit for you, I'm sure."

"When will i start going to school?" he asked, eager. Maria hid a smile and Fury sensed an onslaught of questions.

"Well, today is Wednesday, so I assume that we will have you start school on Monday."

"Where is it?"

"Here, in Manhattan."

"How many kids are in my class?"

"I don't know."

"Are the teachers nice?"

"Probably" Fury answered, rubbing his head.

"What grade - "

"Enough with the questions, Phil!" Fury laughed and Phil looked down embarrassed. "You're like a little interrogation machine!"

"Sorry," he whispered and Loki leaned forward and tapped the boy's shoulder, making the child's head snap up. "Yeah?"

"Don't worry. he secretly likes it." Phil smiled at the adults and Fury gave his best one eyed glare possible at the god for blowing his cover. Suddenly, Steve walked into the room, looking for the shattered glass all over the floor and then at the two brooms.

"Loki, did you seriously just sweep all of that up?"

"Let me guess, you're wondering why i didn't use my magic. The reason is that that's not even half as entertaining." Steve rolled his eyes and walked over adn sat down beside Phil.

"How are you doing?" he asked, looking at the boy. "Your neck hurting at all?"

"Nope. Not really. it hurts a little when i look up," he said, looking up at the ceiling to demonstrate. "But other than that, nope!"

"Well that's good, you gave us a bit of a scare there." Phil smiled shyly and ran off to his drawing table and began drawing again, glancing up every so often at the people talking at the isle. Loki watched him curiously for a few moments before turning to look at Fury.

"Is it natural for your people to be so good at art?" Fury frowned, puzzled.

"All people have some level of artistic talent, not always great. I mean, for his age, his talent probably isn't that great." Loki scoffed and threw the director a seriously look before walking over to Phil.

"hey, Phil, can i take your drawings for a second? Your completed ones?" Phil looked up at him and nodded.

"Sure." Loki smiled at him and walked over to Fury, dropping the papers before the man.

"Explain this then." Frowning, the one eyed man leaned over and began sifting through the papers.

"this isn't right," he muttered, disconcerted at the near perfect replicas staring up at him. "this...is _not_ right. Where's the picture he drew when he got into this mess? the one of you guys in the lab? Wait, here it is." He pulled out the paper at the bottom and held it out to Hill and Loki and Steve. "this is how he should be drawing. Sure he had a spurt of artistic ability when he was six, but nothing to _this_ extent. This is how he draws _now_." they looked over at the humming child and saw his hand moving at an incredible rate, making the lines almost perfectly the first time round. "_That's _how he draws as an adult." Steve sighed and sat back on the stool.

"Banner and Stark working on a solution to his problem yet?" Fury gave him a look.

"Seriously? With everything you have been dealing with recently? _Hell_ no." The man jumped as Hill hit him. "What?"

"_Language!" _the S.H.I.E.L.D agent said, casting a cautious look over at the boy doodling over on the table. Fury rolled his eyes and looked back at the papers before him, taping a finger on the drawings.

"Fascinating," he muttered, walking out of the room, pulling out his phone and calling someone at S.H.I.E.L.D., talking at too low a voice for the three at the island to hear what he was saying. Steve looked at Loki and Pepper, confused.

"What just happened?" Loki shrugged at the super soldier and Hill sighed, rising to go check in on her superior.


	17. Chapter 17: Hurricanes

**Sorry about the mix up with the last chapter. as a reward: longer chapter than my others. Thank you for your continued support! (in fact, i actually consider updating this story as part of my homework now, thank to all of you readers out there.) :)**

000000

Tony opened his eyes and looked around himself surprised and down at Pepper who was laying beside him. Only one thought was coming to his head and it was a very emphatic _what the hell?!_

"I see you're awake finally," Pepper murmured, sitting up and smiling at him. "Something happened with Loki and Hill. Knocked us all out. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, fi - ow - fine," he lied, sitting up as well and rubbing his neck. "Why'd i get in bed in such an uncomfortable position? I mean, i never sleep with my neck all craned around like that."

"I don't think we got into bed Tony," Pepper said, giving him a look and he looked at his girlfriend in confusion. Then, his eyes took on a light of understanding.

"That son of a bitch."

000000

"Loki!" Tony shouted as he came out of his room, stumbling initially before he got his arrogant step back. "Loki, I have a few things I feel the desperate and burning need to ask you." The god looked up innocently from where he was sitting across from Steve. "Wait, where's everyone else? J.A.R.V.I.S. said that Hill and Fury were - "

"They left," Rogers interrupted, jerking his head at Phil. "Recent developments."

"Oh. Well, anyways, _God of Mischief_, I want to know exactly _why_ Pepper and I woke up in the same bed."

"Some explanation about that could also be applied to us," came a cool voice from the doorway behind Tony and Loki began to look almost uncomfortable as he saw Romanoff standing there, arms folded across her chest. She didn't look happy.

"Whoa, wait. He put you and Barton in bed together?" Tony asked, looking around at the assassin, eyes wide. She just gave him a steady glare. Then, he grinned and walked over to Loki, clapping the god on the shoulder. "You've got guts, kid. No problem about the bed thing for me and Pepper anymore."

"Tony," Steve warned and the billionaire began laughing hysterically.

"What, am i the only one who finds this hysterical? The God of Mischief indee - AGH!" Rogers rolled his eyes as Barton shot down from the rafters above them, knocking the billionaire to the ground and pinning him to the floor, twisting his arm behind him.

"WHOA, WHOA WATCH IT BIRD BRAIN!" Tony shouted and Phil scurried away from the wrestling adults as the archer hit his head on the table he was drawing at. Romanoff smirked slightly and reached down and picked him up, holding him in a way that was almost natural.

"How you doing?" she asked him softly. Phil smiled, but she could see that he was uncomfortable in the situation, probably reminding him of how his parents used to fight, or how his mother had been abused.

"I'm good. Can i go play the piano?" Nat smiled and set him down, taking his small hand in hers. "Come on, I'll show you a song I just learned!"

"Sure Phil." They sat next to each other on the piano bench and the boy reached out and began playing "River Flows in You" and the assassin couldn't help but be awed by the talent that was in front of her, talent she never knew existed. But it began to worry her that he was still remembering and experiencing things from his past/future. Was he even here most of the time? How didi that work? The boy seemed so at peace and happy, just playing on the piano, as though he could forget his woes through the ivory keys. And heaven knew that he had enough of those.

"OW, BARTON THAT WAS MY EYE!"

"What is the matter, Metal Man?" boomed a voice from the hallway and soon Thor was running over at Tony and Clint, a mischievous grin on his face. He never could resist a fight. However, upon seeing his brother running into the mess, Loki promptly vanished, appearing again by the window wall thing. He knew that things would soon get ugly.

"HEY, _NO_ THUNDER BOY!" Tony shouted before Thor plowed into them, shouting,

"YOU _DARE_ CALL ME _THUNDER BOY?!_ I AM _THOR, GOD OF THUNDER, _AND _NOT_ A BOY!"

"What? So you're a girl, then?" Clint asked and as Thor playfully lunged for him, although growing more aggravated, the agile archer scrambled for the couch, and vaulted up to the book shelf, vanishing into the vents.

"Oh now _that_ is just cheating," Tony complained as he sat up, rubbing his head. "Thor, if you want to fight with someone, Steve is probably a better idea." He got to his feet and limped over to Pepper who had just gotten off the phone, giving her a quick kiss. "How you doing, sleeping beauty?"

"Tony, leave the flirting for later," she teased, walking over to the island. "How are you doing Thor, Steve?" She gave her bright smile that Steve and Thor couldn't help but return. "Where's Bruce? He still sleeping?"

"Not for long!" Tony shouted running off and Pepper rolled her eyes, calling after him,

"He goes Hulk again and destroys the tower, I am _not_ cleaning it up!" Stark's girlfriend smiled and turned back to Steve, getting into a long and animated discussion with him about something. Loki watched wide eyes as the billionaire vanished and a sing-songy, "Wake up, _Brucey!_" was heard. The god of mischief walked over to Romanoff and Phil and the assassin raised an eyebrow at his approach.

"Something wrong?" she asked smoothly as the Hulk barreled past the door, Tony sprinting for his life and calling for his suit to get over to him and then telling J.A.R.V.I.S. to ignore it as Banner shrank back down to his normal size.

"I just have a question," he began, looking over at the two best friends collapsed on the couch, laughing and proceeding to talk in lowered voices about some scientific stuff. "Does he have a death wish?"

"I think he has accumulated a whole list of death wishes by this time, Asgardian."

"I'm not an Asgardian," Loki instinctively replied and Romanoff shrugged,

"And I'm not Russian." Phil looked around at her confused.

"But Romanoff is a Russian name..." he protested and she smiled down at him.

"Exactly. See _Asgardian_, this kid gets what I'm saying. Or would you rather have me call you a Jotun?" Loki clenched his jaw and turned away from her, stalking out of the room to the stairs that led outside, to the platform where he had stood to watch as his army of Chitauri had taken over New York, or rather failed to.

"What'd you do to get him all riled up?" Barton suddenly asked from her side and she shrugged.

"Told him the truth i guess. Phil, why don't you go hang out with Clint for a while, I'm going to go over to the gym."

"Okay, Tasha," he said obediently and he hopped off the bench to follow Clint into the elevator and down several floors. He wondered what they were going to do...judging by that tell tale glint in the adult's eyes, one that he recognized from his friend Nick, it was going to be somewhere on the lines of misbehaving.

000000

Thor had been talking with Steve for some time when he noticed that Loki was no longer where he could see him.

"Forgive me, Steve. I must go find my brother."

"Oh he's out there on the platform that Tony lands on. I guess Nat got him a little pissed off." Thor sighed in aggravation.

"That woman need tread more carefully around Loki. He is not safe to be around when he is like this." With that the god of thunder set off, limping ever so slightly as he favored his right knee. "Brother!" he called experimentally and Loki didn't react, sitting there, feet dangling off the edge of the building as he stared off into the distance, the biting wind tugging at his clothing. "Brother, what ails you?"

"I should be asking you that," he replied bitterly. "Why do you still play the forgiving, caring brother? After everything I've done?" Thor sat beside him, red cape billowing off and on with the breeze.

"Because I you are my brother, Loki." Loki turned to look at him and Thor just stared at the red eyes coolly, calmly.

"Is _this..._your brother? This monster?!" he hissed and Thor reached out and took a hold of the blue tattoo-raised hand.

"Look at your hand, brother. Look at it." Reluctantly, almost disgustedly, Loki looked at his blue hand in Thor's scabbed one. "This is you, Loki. And it is something to be _proud_ of. You are special, one of a kind. Amazing. Don't let anyone or anything tell you or convince you otherwise." Loki scoffed and snatched his hand away, blending back into his normal skin tone.

"I'm a deceiver, a betrayer. I can't help but be anything else. And yet all of you still love me and still trust me. What makes you such idiots?!"

"Love makes us idiots, brother. And hope. Sentiment i believe you called it." Loki didn't respond and looked out over the city. "What do you see when you look over the city brother? People to be ruled? Or people who have that same capacity to love? And forgive?" Again, Loki didn't respond but looked away, the cool wind making him revert to his Frost Giant self as an instinct against the cold.

"How is Asgard?" he asked finally, looking around at his fair headed sibling. "How many dead at Chitauri hands?" Thor sighed and looked down at the city.

"We were hit hard," he finally whispered. "Children, women...men...old and young. None were spared who came in their path. The death toll was at nine hundred when I departed." Loki closed his eyes in near sorrow. But more guilt than anything. "And hundreds more were injured." Here, Thor's voice became husky. "Including Mother." Loki's head whipped around to Thor and in an instant his Jotun skin had vanished to be replaced by his normal form.

"What?"

"The Chitauri attacked the throne room after Father had left, thinking he was still there. Instead, mother was and they tried to kill her. Had Hogun not shown up and killed them, taking her to the healing room, she may not have survived." Loki felt as though he couldn't breath. He had hated his brother, his father. He had hated them beyond logic. But never had he ever dreamed of raising a finger to hurt Frigga, to hurt his mother. Never.

"Is...will she be alright?" he asked, voice sounding far younger than he wanted. Thor nodded.

"The healers said that she would be alright. But they aren't sure how long it will take her to recover." Loki cleared his throat.

"How about you?" Thor laughed good-naturedly.

"I am as fine as could be!" Loki gave him a seriously look and the first amended his statement. "Well, i was a little roughed up, but nothing that i couldn't handle. A few fractured ribs, concussion...cuts and bruises of varying degrees." Thor shrugged. "What more could you ask for in a good battle?" Loki looked away from the battered form and down at his hands. "Loki?"

"This is my fault," the dark haired one said suddenly, rising. "I - I'm a monster who brings evil down on the one person he still cares about! I kill innocent people, and - and i take joy in it! I kill because it's fun, that man Fury was right! They all were right, I am a monster, and i could never do anything for the people that i do still care for!" Thor rose too and put his hands on Loki's shoulders, holding him steady.

"Listen well, brother." Loki stopped babbling and looked at his brother, eyes wide and distraught. "You are good. You may have done wrong in the past, but inside you are good. You need only let that side out, let it rule over you instead of your other side." Loki swallowed hard, looking into his brother's eyes.

"Can you change your nature? Can you change your inevitable, inescapable path? Thanos is going to kill me. It is written by the Fates," he said, torn. "Mother gave a prophecy that i would be killed." Thor looked at him steadily. "He spoke through Agent Hill, that's why you were all knocked out. He said 'It is approaching in the dark, Loki you have met your mark. Your time here's ending so don't cry, once you've saved his life four times. I don't know who I'm saving, or what I'm going to do. Brother, I - " Thor's heart jumped and dropped simultaneously at that one word. "I'm scared."

"Do not be frightened Loki. I shall fight until my own death if i must to help you. If we cannot stop this from happening, you _shall_ dine in Valhalla. And you shall not be alone for long. Ever." Loki took a shaky breath.

"But I've done so much wrong - " He was cut off as Thor pulled him into a tight hug and the god of Lies would have been living up to his name had he said that he hadn't hugged Thor back with all the strength he had and put his head on his shoulder, fighting the fear and despair welling up deep inside him. And from inside, Tony and Bruce watched, one almost disturbed (rather obvious which one) and the other sympathetic.

"What was _that_ all about? And since when was he _blue_?"

"The cats are leaving Loki's mind," the other commented before looking back at the scans before them. "Tony, we should focus." From what they were finding, they were going to be on a tight schedule to get the problem of their resident S.H.I.E.L.D. agent back to his normal age.

000000

"What are we going to do?" Phil asked as the door opened and they walked out into Tony's lab. "I don't think that Tony would like us being in here...He seems protective of his lab."

"You are one _smart_ kid. That is exactly why we're in here," Clint answered, satisfied._  
_

"What, we're in here to annoy him?"

"Precisely!" The six year old had strange premonitions about what was about to happen next. But for some reason he liked that feeling.

000000

Loki walked back inside, not bothering to meet the curious eyes of Tony or Bruce. He knew the latter would just want to help, but the first would just tease. ANd he couldn't stand another prying, annoying person right now. he needed solitude, somewhere he could just think and be alone.

"Oh, Loki," Tony called and the god turned to face him, bracing himself for some form of ridicule. "We made that room you slept in yours. You can stay in there as long as you want whenever you show up." Slightly taken aback, Loki nodded.

"Thank you. I uh...thanks." He turned and left, Bruce and Tony looking at each other and then at Thor.

"What's up with him? What's with the blue?"

"Man of Iron, now is not the best time to be talking about this - "

"As long as he's living under my roof, i want to know what i'm going to be dealing with!" the billionaire protested and Thor sighed. "I don't know, what if he's like a werewolf and has some weird thing where he turns blue and goes psycho?"

"It's nothing like that!" Thor nearly shouted, angry at the insult he detected. "I told you that he was adopted. Well, he actually isn't even of Asgard. He is of a separate realm known as Jotunheim. They are Frost Giants, and my father took Loki from their temple when he defeated them. Knee deep in Jotun blood, and he takes Laufey's abandoned son as his own. Loki didn't take well to it when he found out. It sent him into a rage of betrayal and isolation. he feels as though he is a monster, with the magic and talents of a Jotun, but with the appearance of an Asgardian."

"Except when he's exposed to the cold i'm guessing," Banner said and Thor nodded.

"That or when he uses Jotun magic. He can control it in the cold, although it is easier to change back to his native appearance in the colder environment. I do not know why he takes it so bitterly, not being of father or mother's blood. I myself am not of my mother - "

"Have you told him that straight out yet?" Steve asked from where he was listening in. "He may not know, and if you tell him, he could take it a little easier, knowing he wasn't entirely the only black sheep in the royal family." Thor looked over at the super soldier surprised. "Sorry, i should have asked before listening in."

"Do not apologize. that is a rather good idea, Captain. Thank you." With that Thor set off in the direction of his brother's room.

000000

"Are you sure he won't be angry?"

"Oh he'll be pissed, don't worry about it."

"But isn't that _not_ a good thing?"

"Phil," Clint grunted as they pushed the work table up against the other side of the room. "That's the point!" Phil furrowed his brow in puzzlement.

"But it's not _right_." The archer stopped pushing and looked down at the boy, mocking severity.

"Phil, if you're living with us, there's something you have to learn."

"What?" the boy asked, voice tinged with fear that he'd done something wrong.

"Relax and screw around with everyone." Clint smiled and began swapping out the drawers between the tables and storage compartments, changing the labels as well. "Come on, we're almost done."

"But this is going to take a _long_ time for him to fix..."

"PHIL!" Clint laughed. "Let it go!"

000000

Loki looked up, irritated as his brother came blundering into his private little sphere like a bilgesnipe. Couldn't they leave him alone for a few minutes?!

"Brother, there is something that i need to tell you...did you do all of this?" Loki looked around at the ice covering the walls, reflecting his image back at him, giving him several different perspectives of himself.

"It helps me think," he said lowly, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. "What do you want, Thor?"

"I wanted to tell you something about my relationship with our mother and father." Loki rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to interrupt. "Mother is not _my_ mother." Loki's head snapped around to stare at him with incredulity.

"What do you mean she isn't your mother?"

"Odin is my father, but Mother is not my actual mother. I am like you to an extent, Loki. Do not take it so hard on yourself." A strange glint seemed to light up in the younger brother's eyes and Thor didn't know whether to be worried or happy that the mischievous Loki of old had returned.

"Don't follow me, brother," Loki suddenly said, leaving the room and walking up to the top floor of the tower, planning to stand alone on the helipad. He had a lot of thinking to do. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one out there. "Captain."

"Oh, hey Loki." Steve looked around at the god, eyes red. Loki looked almost uncomfortable. "You think you were the only one with emotional problems?"

000000

"Okay, Banner. ready to go to the lab?" Tony asked, packing up their things, heading towards the elevator.

"Big one right?"

"Of course. It's the one with the most power and the tools we need ." The creator of the tower sighed and got a funny look. "Theeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeee e'ssssssss - "

"TONY, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!" Bruce yelled, but Tony barreled right over him.

"Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, and lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium, and gold and protactinium and indium and gallium - " here he took a deep breath, "and iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium." Banner ground his teeth and shoved his head in the corner of the cramped metal container, trying to keep his friend's loud obnoxious song out of his head. "There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium, and boron, gadolinium -"

000000

"TONY IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS ELEVATOR ALIVE YOU HAD BEST SHUT UP NOW!" Clint jumped at the loud shout from the elevator and slammed the drawer shut, grabbing Phil and swinging him around onto his back.

"Phil, hang on, don't talk, don't move," he ordered, gagging momentarily as the boy squeezed his throat. "Not that tight!"

000000

" - Plutonium, Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, and tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium" (gasp) "and cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium, and also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium, and argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium, and chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium. These are the only ones of which the news has come to Hah...vard, And there may be many others but they haven't been discah...vered!" Clint had his fist in his mouth as he fought back his silent peels of laughter, Phil giggling hysterically beside him. Even though the air vents were cramped, they were a good hiding place for quick get aways.

"TONY SO HELP ME GOD!" There was a loud bang and the subject of the non-verbalized threat rolled his eyes,

"You go Hulk in here, i"ll kill you in your sleep. J.A.R.V.I.S. bring up the schematics for the shrink tank that we were building." At that sentence, Clint stopped laughing and looked down at Phil. "And the security feed from my house in Malibu."

"Phil, maybe we should start going," he whispered and put a hand on Phil's shoulder, gently pushing him away from the screen. "I'll lead you through don't worry. In fact, I'll take you to my secret place, okay?"

"Sure! Will it be like exploring?"

"Sure will." As they were crawiling down the pathway, Clint shivered at the voice he heard behind him.

_Mr. Stark?_

_First test subject!_

"What're they listening to?" Phil asked from ahead of him and Clint shook his head.

"Nothing, little guy, just keep going. Hang a left and then go forward two junctions and make a right."

"Why was Mr. Stark singing that song?"  
"Oh, i dared him to. It was a bet we made," Barton replied, laughing again at the memory. "I'm surprised he memorized it that fast." The boy giggled as well at the adult's comments and soon found himself in front of a whole little room in the air vents above the fan.

"Whoa..."

"Welcome to my little abode," Clint said, slipping by Phil and standing. "There're a few blankets over there for the draft that comes through here from the fan at times, and some pillows for sitting on. Books, drawing supplies, whatever. It's my own little getaway."

"Why're we here?" Clint looked down at the wide eyed boy and shrugged.

"Maybe i just wanted some company up here." Phil smiled back at him and followed the adult down the ladder to stand among the mess of blankets, pillows, and books. "Or maybe i thought that you needed your own little space away from everyone else for a little. I know that Tony can get a little aggravating, Banners not exactly talkative, and Steve's well...he's Steve. Loki, I'm sorry just isn't a great person for you to be around."

"But Loki's nice," he protested and Barton knelt before the boy, looking him in the eyes.

"Loki's a treacherous person, Phil. He's dangerous. He will play your friend one moment and stab you in the back the next. And i mean that literally. Be careful around him."

"But i was. When you guys were gone, i was careful and he was nice."

"Yes, but that's _just_ how Loki works. he'll bring you in close to him and then he'll hurt you. I don't want that to happen to you, Phil." The boy nodded reluctantly and looked around once more.

"Why do you come up here? Do you sleep here?"

"Occasionally...when i have, well, i guess you would call them nightmares. Have you had nightmares recently, Phil?"

"No,'' he responded innocently, and Clint looked at him carefully.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he answered, nodding, eyes wide and innocent. Clint nodded back and stood up to his full height, looking around. "Well, let's see how long it takes for him to figure it out..."

"What's wrong with this?! J.A.R.V.I.S. - wait. Where did this get put...Barton, is this your payback for me painting your bow bright pink? Cause that was _actually_ Natasha's idea."

Barton looked at the tunnel in almost angry, disbelieving way.

"I'll be right back, Phil. Don't go anywhere." He clambered back into the vents and began shouting. "Tony, are you telling the truth?!"

"Honest, swear to god!"

Phil sighed as he soon found himself alone. He felt slightly comforted by the aloneness around him but soon his curiosity began pulling at the edge of his mind. He heard voices somewhere above him and he looked up to see another ladder leading to a vent through which he could see the sky and shadows moving back and forth.

000000

"What do you mean I'm not the only ones with emotional problems. Are you _sure_ about that?" Loki asked bitterly. "I was lied to my whole life, brought up to think a certain thing, and then, at the height of my life in Asgard, i find out that i am nothing that people told me i was. I was an alien, the spawn of hte enemy of my people. I tried to redeem myself, to kill them all! I killed my father to prove it! I did everything for Odin, to rule out the problems that we would have with them! but he didn't understand what i was trying to do! He abandoned me!" Steve watched him carefully as he ranted and waited patiently as the man stopped and looked angrily out at the city.

"You done?" Loki looked at him and the soldier took that as a yes. "Well, i don't know about you, but you are missing something big." Loki frowned at him.

"What am i missing?"

"You still _have_ them. Thor still cares about you, Loki. So does your mother, your father. You just refuse to see it."

"He dropped me off into an abyss that i couldn't even begin to pull myself out of! I am a monster!"

"Loki, shut up." Loki looked at him startled. The super soldier wasn't angry. He just said it with a powerful straightforwardness.

"You know nothing of what it means to be truly alone, abandoned. I went under when we were at war. I had a woman that i loved, a life that i could live out. People i cared about. Soldiers who were best friends. I went under for _70_ years. I woke up, and i had no one around me. No one i knew. I woke up in an entirely different world, everyone i knew was gone, dead. And the cruelest part? Peggy is still alive. But she's retired, and i can't do that to her. I can't show up, looking the same as i did seven decades ago, and say hi. I've called, yes. And i miss her so much, but i can't go to her. So shut up, Loki. You don't even know what it means to be alone. To have someone in the world that you care about, but you can't go to them." _that's not true_, Loki thought as the image of his mother came to his mind momentarily.

In his hideaway, Phil felt lost. He didn't think that heroes could have weaknesses, especially Captain America. But it turns out that he was just like any other person.

"You are not alone either," Loki said after a while. "You have your friends."

"And you have Thor." The two men looked at each other, almost awkward as they realized they had what they needed to be happy with the life that they had before them. "Well...I guess there is Phil as of right now. And he's really company enough from what i've noticed around him."

"that is true. He is a strange person, Phil. No matter what age he is, he always seems to be able to bring out the best in people. Even in me. It's hard to look at him and know that it was only at most a year ago that I stabbed - "

A phantom pain shuddered through the little boy's chest and he winced, letting out the barest whimper and immediately shrinking down.

"Wait." Phil shrank down in the shadows. "Did you see that? Over in the vent."

"It might be your archer," Loki commented looking Phil dead in the eyes and the boy got the feeling that the god knew exactly who was in there. Steve shook his head.

"Phil are you in there? We won't be mad if you are," Rogers said comfortingly, opening the vent and lifting the boy out of his small perch. "Hey. How are you?" Phil looked up at him and suddenly gave him a big hug. "Um, Phil..."

"You're not alone," Phil whispered protestingly and Steve froze, looking around at Loki, mouthing _he heard everything_. Loki shrugged in a way that said he had never doubted it. But he froze when Phil fixed him with his wise, yet young and innocent eyes and said in the same way, "You too." Loki looked away at the sky line and Phil got a sudden thought.

"What else can you shape shift into?" Steve looked around at Loki and Phil hopped down to the ground, walking over to Loki and looking up at him.

"Shape shift?" Loki grinned.

000000

"Thanks, Barton. I think we can finish up the last of this."

"I can't believe that it was _Nat_ that had the idea of painting my bow bright pink!" he snarled. Bruce looked at him warily.

"Well, the idea may have come from someone higher up the line..." Barton spun around to look at him angrily.

"Was this Fury's idea?"

"May have been your mentor," Tony coughed, turning away.

"PHIL?!"

"Well, he did use non permanent paint didn't he? I would have used permanent," Tony joked and Barton rubbed his head in annoyance.

"Oh well. I can't get back at him now can i? How is that going with him by the way?" the two scientists just looked at each other. "Not good i take it?"

"We hit something that could be...harmful to Phil...about his condition," Tony said lowly, focusing purposefully on his equations.

"How harmful?" Clint asked, ignoring the cold feeling spreading in his stomach.

"If we can't get a hold on this memory problem, year jumping thing, it might end up killing him," Banner said abruptly, looking down at his glasses as he cleaned them in a stress pattern.

"Kill him?" CLint asked incredulously. "Well, what exactly is _happening_ to him?!"

"His mind's jumping years, memories. It's unstable, but his body is stable. We've been looking at scans and advancing them with the pattern of spiking and it's creating a sort of tumor in the medulla and another in the frontal lobe. They're small right now, almost non existent. Like, one or two cells. Only way we found them was through Tony's scans, since they're incredibly detailed. But if we can't get the mental jumping under control, the tumors and very well the stress of all of these memories that he has no idea where they're coming from...they could cause serious health problems."

"We're trying, Clint. Right now, it's just all preliminary stuff. Diagnostics. But we're trying." Clint nodded at the billionaire's comment and turned to the vents. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," he answered unconvincingly. "You let him die, I'm going to kill you."

"I think we'll kill ourselves first, Barton. Don't worry about it," Tony replied, pulling up the scans and several therapy options. "We'll solve this."

000000

When Barton followed Phil's sneaker tread marks up the ladder to the highest point of the tower, he stuck his head out to get hit by the giant wing of a..._what the hell?!_

"CLINT LOOK! LOKI'S A PTERODACTYL!" Phil shouted from Steve's side, the adult watching every movement with the utmost fear and concern.

"I can see that!" he said calmly back and the pterodactyl swung its head around to look him in the face before neatly folding its wing up and staring at them patiently. "What else can you do that we don't know about?" The dinosaur promptly changed into a squirrel and sprinted over to weave around his feet, the archer looking at him with a complete _WTF?! _expression on his face. "How good are you at being a squirrel? Can you jump from say my hand onto Phil over there? I bet you can't." Steve gave him a warning look, but the archer ignored it. Loki glared at him and scrambled up onto the archer's hand and prepped himself for jumping off of the hand. He took a flying leap and a gust of air came through, catching the squirrel with a squeak and hurling him over the edge of the building. Dead silence reigned over the three humans there as they realized what had just happened and of course, the super soldier was the first to respond.

"LOKI!" Steve shouted running to stop by the edge of the building searching for the squirrel and Barton began laughing hysterically, falling onto the ground, Phil torn between laughing or joining Steve looking for the fallen squirrel. He ended up laughing as a frazzled looking black crow flapped unsteadily up to the tower and landed on the hard, steady concrete, morphing back into a "human" who looked scared out of his wits and fell on his back on the tower, making sure he was far away from any ledges.

"_That's_ why i hated squirrels."

"I don't know. You made a pretty good squirrel," Barton wheezed and the god looked at him balefully.

"Don't make me throw _you_ off Barton." Phil laughed at the idea and Clint gave him a betrayed look.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on _my_ side!"

"I am!" A sudden gust of air again blew across the tower and Steve looked out at the skyline.

"Guys, we should probably go in. It's getting really stormy out there. And i don't think it's Thor this time."

"Agent Romanoff recommends that you get inside as quickly as possible," came J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice suddenly and the rumble of thunder came to their ears.

"That doesn't look like an everyday storm either," the war veteran commented and Barton walked down the stairs to the main room that they usually spent all of their time in. Noting how Phil seemed unsteady on his feet, Loki reached out a hand to him and Phil grabbed it like a life line.

"What's going on?" Steve asked as they came down, Loki following with Phil.

"Hurricane's coming in," Natasha responded from where she was seated in front of the TV, news station blaring at her.

"A _hurricane_. Here?" Clint asked incredulous. "New York doesn't get hurricanes."

"Well, apparently we do. Called Sandy." They all stood around the screen, Phil sitting next to Romanoff and resting his head on her shoulder.

**Hey, so if any of your parents sang lullabies to you, could you give me a list if you want? I'm trying to find one for an upcoming scene, but i can't seem to find one. think you can figure out where the lullaby is going. :)**


	18. Chapter 18: Storms and Lullabies

**Thanks to all of you who sent me some lullabyes that you listened to/were sang! and Raven McBain, thanks for confirming if the song was the right one. :)**

"How bad is it supposed to get?" Steve asked as they saw the reports.

"Not that bad. Shouldn't get past a category 1. But it's actually curving inwards on the coast. usually, it just runs parallel," the assassin mused, reaching over and putting an arm comfortingly around him. "Don't worry, Phil. It won't be that bad." He nodded but his eyes still looked on at the storm reports with fear. "they're still telling people right along the coast to evacuate just to be safe. May be a low category, but it sure is big."

"Do you think you're going to evacuate, Stark?" Clint asked without even turning around as the billionaire came up next to Banner.

"Are you kidding? This tower took _his_ army on and didn't fall. I think we'll be good up here."

"Who's army?" Phil asked, looking around to face Tony, curiosity plain on his face. Tony looked down at him slightly stuck before regaining his nonchalant appearance.

"No one's army, Phil. Just one of the guys i had a grudge with. We solved our issues though. No big problem, no muss, no fuss..."

"Can Pepper fly back in, you think? Didn't she go to DC a few hours ago?" Banner asked, looking at him and his science buddy hesitated.

"She should be okay. The plane can go way higher than others and she could probably avoid the worst parts of it. But she should be okay." Steve looked outside again and a thought hit him.

"Hey, will your arc reactor thing in the ocean be okay? I know category 1 is low, but still. Do you think it'll be okay?" Tony nodded and walked over to the refrigerator and opened it before slamming it shut again.

"It'll be fine. Who ate the last of the shawarma?" Clint coughed and looked down, fiddling with his finger nails and callouses on his palms. "_Nice_, Barton."

"Boys, later." Romanoff suddenly got a perplexed look on her face. "Hey, where's Thor?" As if on cue, Thor walked into the room, looking very somber and shaken. his usually boisterous, irrepressible self gone. "Something wrong?" Absentmindedly, the god nodded and looked up to his brother.

"Loki. I need to talk to you." His voice was numb and vacant and Loki walked over to him with some premonition.

"Thor?" he asked carefully as his brother led him into the hallway and into the younger sibling's room. "What's wrong?" Thor sat heavily on the bed and looked wearily up at his brother.

"You wouldn't happen to have any more healing stone's would you? The magic that the healers used is fading, and given the stress of the past day, i haven't been able to rest the way i should have..." Loki shook his head.

"I don't. You know the Allfather sent me as i was. No time for preparations." He sat by his brother and examined the extent of the injuries. "If you like, i can try my own magic to assist you. I have been restrained, but not to the point where I'm powerless." Thor nodded wearily and as Loki's hands hovered above his brother's arms, infusing them with his magic and rebuilding the medicinal coating that had been there previously, he said softly, "Heimdall contacted me." Loki's magic faltered.

"What happened? You weren't so absent about failing health, i knew that much."

"Mother...took a turn for the worse. The Chitauri used some strange weapon on her when they attacked her, and it sent her into a comatose sleep. The healers are keeping her alive right now, but they can't detect any poison. They think it may have been a dark curse." Loki's magic ceased and he looked directly at Thor and clenched his jaw tightly. "Loki? Are you okay, brother?" He shook his head and stood unsteadily to look outside. "What ails you?"

"A storm is coming, brother. And it's not just the one off the coast of the city. There is one brewing overhead, far away from us, and another approaching from inland. We are surrounded by misfortune, and all that remains is for us to meet it. And all of this is caused or linked in some way to me. I try not to take it too harshly, but it is difficult when bad luck follows you like the flies to a carcass."

"Loki, together, we are more capable than any other group of individuals in existence to take on whatever challenges may be thrown at us. Do not fear too much." Loki scoffed.

"You are _naive_ brother. Thanos will not stop until the world has paid tenfold over for my failure. And it seems as though mother has been the first person to feel that cost." He looked at the floor and asked the next question, the answer to which he feared. "How long does she have if they can't reverse it?" Thor hesitated.

"Months. At least two...no more than half a year." Loki sat stiffly on the bed, staring angrily at the floor. "Loki - "

"It is not wise to be around me at this time, brother," he growled and Thor watched the blue tint in his brother's hands spreading up his arms to vanish under his rolled up sleeves. "Leave me." Thor stood and slowly made his way out of the room, wincing with every step as his fractured ribs ached at the slightest movement. "And you may want to rest for a long time." Thor looked around at his brother, baffled at the sudden turn of the younger sibling's personality.

"I will." And, as Loki requested, Thor left the room.

000000

"How big is this thing going to get?" Stark asked as they watched the hurricane continue to grow in size. "Still a low category, though. Thank goodness for that." Phil sleepily looked up from where he was lying on the couch, seemingly bored out of his mind. Tony noticed and looked down at him. "You need something to do, don't you?" Phil nodded and sat up, picking up a rubber band from the floor and weaving it into different shapes on his fingers.

"I'm so bored..." he complained, as the band snapped, making his hands sting. "is there anything i can do?"

"Piano?" the billionaire asked. "You're pretty good at it."

"Nah."

"Drawing?"

"Got tired of it." Tony gave up and turned back to the news. Then, Banner got a look.

"Hey, Phil, do you want to come with Tony and me down to the lab? We can show you what we do down there all the time." Phil immediately brightened up.

"Can I?" he asked eagerly, bouncing up and down. "Please?"

"Yeah," Banner answered, holding a hand out to him and smirking at Tony's appalled look. "We can show you some of our cool scanning equipment, too." Then, Tony realized what Banner was doing.

"Sure thing," the billionaire added. "It'll be super fun." Steve watched in mild disapproval as they tricked the young child into going with them to the lab. Banner had lifted Phil onto the counter to wait while he and Tony talked momentarily right before the door. While they weren't in the lab, Rogers realized that the boy was safely out of earshot.

"_That_ bothers me," he finally said and Romanoff shrugged.

"They need the scans. His situation is getting a bit dangerous." The super soldier stared at her, uncomprehending. "The tumor that's developing because of his condition?" Steve's eyes widened and he sat upright, about to start on a rant about Banner and Tony being careless and all that fun stuff when Romanoff shushed him, turning to her fellow agent. "Clint, didn't you tell him?" The archer shrugged.

"I didn't want to worry him. You know how panicked he can get," he explained in his defense. "And don't bother asking about Loki. The guy possessed me." Their voices had been growing slightly louder to the point where Phil, Banner, and Tony were watching on curiously, Banner moving closer to the group, ready to mediate if necessary. From his position by the hallway entrance, Thor cleared his throat and they all turned to look at the battered god. "Hey, Thor," the archer commented in an off-handed way. The god of thunder looked peeved and slightly aggravated.

"I would like to make it clear that my brother can be trusted now. He may have wronged you in the past, but he is trying to do better by all of those that he had harmed, and that includes you, my friends." Barton scoffed.

"I still can't believe you trust that mad - " was as far as he got before Thor had flown at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, pinning him up against the wall, Mjolnir flying into his hand from where it was sitting on the table. Romanoff and Steve were shouting at the two men to calm down and Banner had leaped over the back of the couch to pry Thor away from Barton, narrowly dodging a hook that the man aimed at the god's head. Tony wisely picked up Phil and moved him closer to the lab door, making sure that they were out of range.

"Your brother's insane!" Barton shouted and Banner had to forcibly hold them apart. "I'm surprised no one's put an _arrow_ in his head and no one has any sort of objection with him hanging around Phil!"

"TAKE CARE HOW YOU SPEAK ARCHER!" Thor yelled. Steve and Romanoff tried to get them to see sense, and Banner took a deep breath yelling louder than everyone else in the room.

"HEY!" Reluctant silence fell, though it was saturated with tension. "Listen you two! Barton, shut up about your problems with Loki. As of _right now_, he has done nothing harmful to _anyone_ here and - "

"that's _just_ what he wants - "

"SHUT UP!" Banner shouted. "Or i _will_ get angry!" Dead silence. "Now, as long as you're under this roof, you will tolerate Loki. I don't care if you hate his guts, you don't provoke him, you don't antagonize him, you don't try and kill him. Don't even touch him. Thor," he turned his attention to the tall blonde man. "You have to realize that it is going to take a while for our distrust of Loki to go down and that humanity is good at one thing: holding grudges. It's going to take a while, and you have to appreciate the position that Clint's coming from. But that doesn't give either of you the right to go at each other's throats. Not right now. So can you two PLEASE act like adults?" Barton pulled himself free from Banner's grasp and walked towards the metal ladder built into the wall.

"I need time to think. Just know that everything i said had nothing to do with me, Banner, but with Phil. _Coulson_," he added darkly and pointedly, vanishing within seconds into the wall. Thor stepped back and nodded at Bruce.

"Thank you, Doctor Banner. I shall endeavor to understand what you are talking about." Thor smiled briefly at the doctor and Banner sighed in relief that another break out had been avoided. Thor was usually the hard one to get to listen to reason; now apparently, it was Barton. Thor then proceeded to walk to the couch and sit down to have a long conversation with Romanoff about the way a toaster functioned. Why, the assassin had no idea, but it was very interesting to try and explain. Steve looked around, sensing something watching him and was met with the sad green eyes of a small kitten fixated on him before the small bundle of fur sprinted over to Phil unnoticed by Bruce and Tony who were wrapping up their previous conversation. Slightly worried about the consequences that could ensue, the war veteran watched as Phil picked up the little kitten and slipped him into his Captain America shield sweatshirt pocket, where the animal nudged the boy's hand momentarily to comfort the slightly startled looking child.

"Okay, Phil. Let's go into the lab now," Stark said, picking the boy up from the ground and carrying the small child into the adjacent room. "We're going to have some fun in there. Bruce, can you go and get that thingy from our other lab? From the lab we saw that squirrel fall by?" Banner nodded, getting what he was trying to say and walking out of the lab to the elevator. "By the way," Tony said, turning to Phil. "What was with the squirrel?"

"Uh..." Phil floundered. "A hawk dropped it. It had caught it and Clint - "

"Phil," Tony said, giving him a look. "What was with the squirrel?" Phil looked up at him with innocent eyes and shrugged.

"I don' know." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Suit yourself. I'll just find out on my own." Phil opened his mouth to say something and at that specific moment, Loki meowed from his pocket. Tony turned around and gave the boy a weird look as they walked to a scanner.

"that was a good imitation of a cat, Phil. Good job," he said, genuinely surprised and walked off to start getting some of the tests they needed done set up. Phil looked down at his lap and put a finger to his lips and the small black kitten withdrew into his pocket again.

~'*'~

Banner walked back into the room to see Phil looking at a scan of his bones, eyes wide with wonder.

"That's so cool! Why are we looking at my bones?"

"Because we like bones," Tony replied. "Bones are cool," Satisfied with that answer for the most part, Phil turned to run over to Dummy who was whirring around and knocking test tubes off of the table, whining when Tony glared at him.

"What this?" The billionaire sighed in aggravation.

"_That_ is Dummy. And can you stop knocking things over?! I will disassemble you and turn you into a lab table if you don't stop!" Dummy bowed its "head" and Stark walked over to Banner, checking over his shoulder every so often to make sure Phil wasn't hurting himself on the robot. As much as the adult version annoyed him from time to time, this little Phil was really "So, bone structure is fine. No problems there. In fact they actually seem almost a little dense. But that's probably just a side effect of the shrinking element of what we were originally trying to do."

"So, what do we have left? Neural scans and brain activity?"

"Yep," Tony answered and turned around to see that a little black kitten was in Dummy's hand thing and the boy was talking animatedly to it and the robot. "Um, Phil? Are you okay?"

"Dummy put Loki down! You might hurt him!" the cat hissed at the robot and scratched at the metal hands, thoroughly miffed. "Dummy! Put. The kitten. Down," the boy said forcefully and Dummy bowed his head, whined, and put the cat on the floor where it promptly turned into the tall god. Tony gaped and Banner made a mental note to double check all of his sheets before going to bed; Loki wasn't the god of mischief for nothing and apparently he could shape shift.

"Pathetic mortal instrument," the god muttered, glaring at the robot. Tony stared for a while and then pointed at Loki.

"So _that's_ what happened with the squirrel?" Loki just gave him a look and the moment was ruined when Phil nodded.

"Yeah! a big wind blew him off the tower!" Tony's eyes widened and he began laughing.

"Phil..." Loki growled looking over at the boy.

"What?" The child obviously didn't get what he had started.

"What, so you tried jumping and the hurricane blew you off the top of my tower?" Tony asked, grinning broadly.

"I believe that is the safe thing to assume." Tony smirked and went back to his scans.

"that's great. I wish i had that on video - WAIT! J.A.R.V.I.S. pull up the security feed from the roof!" Loki face palmed and turned to walk out of the room but just as the clip came up, there was a loud whirring noise and the room went dark. From outside, everyone watching the tower could see it slowly at first and then rapidly turn dark, window after window, floor after floor, level after level shutting down. Phil shrank down on the ground under the table and looked around himself. The inky darkness was impenetrable and it was making him claustrophobic.

"What was that?" came Tony's voice in the dark and he pulled off his sweater so that his arc reactor created a soft glow in the dark under his shirt. Seeing the light source and knowing it to be the billionaire, Banner began moving in the dark.

"Okay, Loki, Phil, walk over to Tony. And carefully. There're a bunch of test tubes and stuff all over the place. I don't want you guys hurting yourselves or each other accidentally."

"Okay," Phil said softly, edging forward with his foot and making sure he wasn't hitting anything. When he knew he was clear from what he remembered of the room before the black out, he ran to Tony and the billionaire jumped as a small form tackled his legs. "I'm scared, Mr. Stark."

"Hey, it's okay, Phil. Easy." the billionaire bent down and picked up the boy, holding him closely. "And you know you can call me Tony, right? Mr. Stark just sounds weird." Phil nodded but didn't say anything and Tony turned around to face the indistinct shape of Banner. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I was going to ask you."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. what happened?" The AI took some time in responding.

"Apologies for the late reply, sir. I'm afraid that my systems were rerouting their power supply. It seems as though the pipe in the ocean that held the arc reactor was damaged. Stark Tower is inoperable."

"Well, ain't that grand," Tony said to himself. "J.A.R.V.I.S. run diagnostics. that storm isn't strong enough to knock out that pipe, so what was it?"

"It appears sir to have been frozen over. A complete anomaly." Unseen in the dark, Loki froze. "It is not the same ice that was present at the site that S.H.I.E.L.D. sent you to though, sir. It is simply frozen over and then broken." The three people looked over in the direction they sensed Loki to be in.

"Got anything you want to tell us?" Loki looked in the directions of their voices.

"I don't know. The only other people that I know of that would have any reason to hate me and can use the ice are my own people."

"Asgardians?" Banner asked. Loki didn't answer for a while.

"Jotuns. From Jotunheim. I nearly destroyed their home world. My old home world. I was the son of their king Laufey, whom I killed a while back. They can control water, manipulate it into ice."

"So you can do that too?" Loki saw where this was heading.

"I have to be in direct contact with the pipe!" he protested vehemently. "There is no way that I would have been able to damage your property!"

"never said you did, Rock of Ages," Tony said sympathetically. "Look, Barton may hate your guts, but I don't. I'm willing to give you a second chance for being an ass, since I kinda was when I started out." Loki scoffed.

"You would be right not to trust me." In the silence that followed, Phil said softly.

"Can we leave? The dark is scaring me."

"Sure thing, buddy," Tony said comfortingly, moving effortlessly in the dark to the door, Banner putting a hand on Loki's shoulder and guiding him. "Banner watch out for Dummy." A loud bang, and an equally loud whine shattered the silence and Tony smirked. "Never mind. Dummy, shine a light will you?" Dummy fiddled around on one of the tables and soon a flashlight beam was trained on the door, thanks to Dummy's assistance. Slowly, and then more readily, the people in the room came out into the light and Phil blinked several times to clear his vision. The wind was blowing through the hole in the wall and it was making him cold.

"I guess that hole in the wall might be a problem..." the billionaire said to himself as he saw where the boy was looking. "Hey, guys."

"Stark what happened?" Steve asked, standing in the fading light. "I would say power outage, but your ego would probably - "

"It's not possible for a power outage in _my_ tower." Steve nodded expectantly.

"That's what i thought." Romanoff glared at both of them and stood up to take Phil from Tony, the man handing over the child with relief. "Is Barton okay up there?" Rolling her eyes, Romanoff passed Phil back off to Tony and then climbed up the archer's ladder and vanished up into the vents. "Um, i guess he might not be."

Tony looked down at the boy sleepily blinking in his arms and realized that he must be getting tired. "Phil, do you want to go to your room?" He nodded against the mans' chest, listening in curiosity to the adult's heart beat coupled with the hum of the arc reactor. As they walked off down the hall, Banner and Steve watching with an _awwwwww..._ expression. Loki stood awkwardly off to the side, watching the ocean in some trepidation.

When they reached Phil's room, Tony set the boy on his bed and realized, as Phil burrowed under his blankets, that the building was getting rather cold.

"You still cold, Phil?" he asked and the boy nodded. "I'll be right back." The adult turned and walked out of the room right into Loki, who had a whole mass of blankets in his arms. "Um..."

"I'm Jotun. I don't mind the cold." The god put them in his arms and walked back to his room, opening the door and closing it with a sense of finality. Slightly disconcerted, the man walked back into Phil's room and laid the blankets on the half asleep boy. Then, as the adult was almost out of the door, he heard Phil call his name.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?" he said, stopping halfway out of the door and looking over his shoulder. Phil blinked blearily at him.

"Will the storm get bad?"

"No, it should be okay Phil. It'll be loud, and some damage will be done, but you'll be safe here."

"Big storms scare me..." Tony felt his heart break slightly at the confession. "Can you sing me a lullaby?" The adult looked slightly taken aback, but his small amount of self-consciousness melted away at the sight of the little boy. He sighed and closed the door walking over to sit on the bed beside Phil.

"What do you want to hear?" Phil shrugged.

"I don' know...whatever you wanna sing..." he yawned and nestled deeper in his blankets. Tony was stumped. He searched around in his memory because he was fairly certain that ACDC was _not_ appropriate for sleeping: the mental image of him singing "Shoot to Thrill" to a five year old almost made him laugh. Finally, a song his mother had sung to him from Scotland came to mind and he looked down at Phil. He cleared his throat a few times.

"Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing...onward the sailors cry," he cleared his throat briefly and continued on, "Carry the lad that's born to be king, over the sea to Skye. Loud the wind the howls, long the waves roar, thunderclouds rend the air. Baffled our foes stand on the shore, follow they will not dare. Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing, onward the sailors cry. Carry the lad that born to be king, over the sea to Skye," Tony almost started as the boy's head fell onto his arm, almost asleep, "Many's the lad fought on the day, well the claymore could wield, when the night came silently lay, dead in Culloden's Field. Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing, onward the sailors cry carry the lad that's born to be king over the sea to Skye. Though the waves heave, soft shall he sleep. Ocean's a royal bed. Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep watch by your weary head. Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing onward the sailors cry. Carry the lad that's born to be king, over the sea to Skye." Tony continued humming, looking down at the sleeping child. He wished that life could be that simple for him again. From the vents, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton watched and smiled to each other.

"Guess we should go down. See what we're going to be doing next." But neither of them moved until Tony was done singing and watched adoringly as the billionaire carefully slid off the bed and walked to the door, opening and closing it as though it were made of glass.

When Tony walked back into the room, he was tossing an idea around in his head. He wasn't sure if he should do it or not but Phil's scared eyes came to mind again and he made his decision.

"When Pepper flies in, we're leaving. We'll get out of here before the worst of the storm and we'll stay at my house in Malibu." He walked out and told J.A.R.V.I.S. to try and get some sort of power back on to seal off the broken glass.

"Something wrong with the tower?" Steve asked and Tony looked over his shoulder.

"Nothing, nothing." Suddenly behind the super soldier, Romanoff went up on tip toe and whispered something in his ear.

"Oh. I get it." Tony gave the two agents a baleful look. "Don't worry about it Tony, i won't tell Loki."

"Oh i was watching. A fly on the wall you could say," the god said from the couch. How he had gotten there was no surprise given his last statement. Thoroughly red in the face, Tony cleared his throat and continued giving instruction to his AI.

"Just doing what my dad didn't," he finally said and the other avengers couldn't help but smile at the tenderness that the billionaire was showing Agent Coulson.

No way they were going to let him forget it, of course.


	19. Chapter 19: Preparation and Intrusion

When Pepper neared the landing strip, she could immediately tell something was wrong. And she didn't mean the developing hurricane. Tony was pacing around in an almost too tight circle on the tarmac, waiting for her to land and get off. Said landing was a little rough, she had to admit, but she didn't even start to flatter herself with the thought that her lover was worried for her safety. A Stark plane could crash and those inside would probably never even feel it. Nonetheless, she could tell something was wrong and she hurriedly grabbed her baggage and walked over to him.

"Tony, what wrong?" He just wrapped her arm around her shoulder and began walking. "Tony, something was bugging you enough to the point where I could tell that you were upset from the _plane_. What happened?"

"Stark Tower was sabotaged. Don't know by who or what but they probably aren't from around here. It's completely inoperable," he said voice short. "We're flying out to the house in Malibu before the worst of the storm hits."

"Why?" Pepper asked, looking at him. "I don't think that we would have to evacuate - "

"Phil," Tony said, explaining the situation in one word. "He's...the dark, the storm, all of it. It just scared him. I don't want him to have to go through that. Especially since the heating is down in the tower. Loki was kind enough to give the kid all of his spare blankets. I was going to give him mine, but being a Frost Giant has its perks when you're in the cold." Pepper smiled at him and was surprised that she actually spoke her mind.

"You would make a good dad, Tony." The billionaire looked at her, askance.

"Uh, _no_. No, _definitely not_." Pepper smiled again at his denial. He so would.

000000

Steve looked at the duffle bag on his bed and did a mental once over of everything that he was going to need before he walked out of his room, swinging the bag over his shoulder. Bruce was taking care of Phil's belongings that they were going to bring for him and Natasha was still up in the vents with Barton. But they weren't really a problem: they could probably pack and be ready in an instant. Loki was already done, seeing as he never started in the first place, and was standing there, staring at the piano in some bafflement and curiosity.

"Something wrong, Loki?" he asked and the god looked up.

"I was simply contemplating the instrument," he said absentmindedly and experimentally pressed the keys until he played a full scale, eyebrow raising at the melodious sound that came from it. "Is it very cold in here?" he randomly asked and Steve shrugged.

"It isn't that bad. A little nippy, but other than that i think that it's manageable." Loki nodded and sat down on the bench, still staring at the keys. "Why do you ask?" Loki shrugged in turn.

"No reason." Then, contrary to his last statement, he explained his inquiry. "I'm just...not feeling cold at all." Steve hummed thoughtfully.

"Must be your Jotun blood. What do you know, it came in handy after all for you." Steve smiled at the god and walked over to the ladder, deciding to brave the Hawk and the Widow's territory to tell them that they were leaving. He was at the top when the piano started playing. It was a sad, and beautiful piece that seemed like it was reminiscing on playfulness and a time when life was happy, but was now marred by loss and emotional turmoil. But over all there was a sense of...letting go.

Steve banged on the vent and said loud enough for his voice to carry,

"Barton! Romanoff! We're flying out in thirty minutes! Pack up what you want to take to keep safe, but mainly get out of the walls!" Then he dropped to the ground and turned to watch Loki as the god played a song on an instrument he didn't even know how to play.

000000

Barton looked around at the vent as he heard Steve's voice. He rolled his eyes at the message and looked around at Romanoff.

"Do we have to go down?" he asked, almost like a child whining and Nat shrugged.

"Unless you want me to drag you out, you had better come," was her cool reply and he sighed in aggravation. "When we go down there, i want you to listen to Banner's instructions, okay?" Clint looked at her in mild horror.

"Don't tell me you trust him too!"

"Clint," she said gently, giving him a careful look. "I understand that it is hard for you to look at Loki and see anything other than the monster who possessed you, who nearly killed Phil, and tried to destroy our world. I had to force myself to look past that."

"What if there is nothing past that? He's the god of lies and mischief, for crying out loud!" Clint protested. "Tasha, why do you trust him?" She didn't say anything and then said something that he didn't expect.

"Why do you trust me?" It wasn't a joking question. She was dead serious. Clint just stared at her, and floundered to find an answer.

"Be...cause, I know you. Because we've saved each other's lives, and we've served together for so long. We're a team, Nat." She nodded as she took in his explanation.

"And...why did you trust the Black Widow when you first met her?" She looked at Barton carefully.

"I didn't," he scoffed, looking her straight back in the eye. "I took a chance on you, that's all."

"You took a chance on me," she repeated. "Why did you take a chance on me? I had killed dozens of people. I was trying to kill you, and killed the soldiers that were with you, who were your allies. My resume was filled with successful murders, assassinations, tortures, you name it. I was covered in the blood of my victims. _Why did you take a chance on me?_" A long intense staring contest ensued and the archer finally spoke.

"Because you had the potential," he said, unsteadily. "You had the potential...to be good. And i thought that you could do better than what you had done in the past, become a better person." She nodded affirmation.

"And did I?"

Clint stared at her.

"Yes."

"How different is Loki from me when you found me?" she asked, in that same calm, compelling way. Clint hesitated and looked down.

"He isn't." Natasha smiled at him and put her hand over his, resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn't in a flirty way. it was simply their way of showing their close friendship.

"There you go."

000000

Banner had just finished packing when he heard a loud crash from Phil's room and he practically tripped over his own bed and fell flat on his face, trying to get out to the hallway. Thankfully, the more graceful Rogers sprinted down the hall and hesitated before the boy's door before opening it. "Phil? Are you okay?" A pause. "Damn it, not again." He moved out of Banner's line of sight and the doctor hurriedly pushed himself off the floor, straightened his glasses and walked into the boy's room, heart sinking as he did.

"Oh, shit."

Phil had a large bruise forming on his head and his wrist looked sprained, but the boy's eyes were still tightly shut. Steve walked over to him and sat on the side of the bed, reaching out to put his hand on the small kid's shoulder.

"Phil? Time to wake up," he said softly and Phil opened his eyes, frowning as he felt pain in his wrist and head.

"My head and arm hurt," he said softly, blinking rapidly to prevent tears from falling.

"Yeah, you hurt yourself," the super soldier said, the boy sat up wincing, and then, out of habit, leaned against the nearest adult, who just happened to be Steve. "What happened?" The boy blinked a few times and frowned.

"I fell out of a tree." Steve looked around at Bruce and the doctor raised an eyebrow. "Well then..." he said and gently ruffled his hair. "Don't go climbing anymore trees." Bruce nearly burst out laughing and sat beside the two of them and looked questioningly at the boy.

"Can i touch your arm? I'm going to check how bad it's hurt." Phil nodded and the doctor looked at it and smiled.

"You're good. Slight sprain, but nothing a sling won't solve. No concussion...yep, you're good. Yeah, don't...don't go climbing trees again without adults."

"Nick was with me, though. I thought i wouldn't fall out and he said he would catch me if i did." He paused and tilted his head in thought. "Well, i guess he did...but it didn't really work." Steve nodded and laughed.

"Well, I'm seeing that."

"I hit my head on his," the boy continued and Bruce's eyes widened.

"Wait, so that bruise is from Fury's head?" he asked incredulous. Phil nodded and snuggled down into his blankets. "Okay, Phil. It hurts anymore, you just call one of us."

"Alright," he mumbled and laid down, falling asleep again almost immediately. At which point, both adults made their rapid exit and laughed as they made it into the main sitting room.

"Well, now we know that Fury's head is REALLY hard. Should tell Tony not to try and knock him out," Bruce sighed, laughing, and wiping his glasses clean. "Well, is Phil's stuff packed?" Steve nodded.

"Yep, everything's ready for him. You?"

"I'm good. I'm used to traveling light...making, uh, speed getaways i guess you could say," the doctor said hesitantly and the supersoldier nodded knowingly.

"I heard some commotion from Phil's room, is he alright?" Clint said, dropping down from the ceiling. As the doctor eyed him and Romanoff carefully, he raised his hands in defense. "Hey, don't worry. I cooled off." He looked around as though searching for someone. "Where's Loki?" Thor walked into the room at the precise moment and smiled at Barton.

"Hello, Bow Man - "

"Thor, it's Clint or Barton - "

"You have said so before, Bow Man," the god said and Barton rolled his eyes in defeat. "My brother is on the roof, conversing with the cold." Barton looked at him with a completely taken aback expression and the Norse god shrugged. "That is what he told me."

"And you're really that gullible, are you?" Romanoff asked and left the room, heading for the roof through the access ladder in a side room, Barton following close behind.

~'*'~

Loki looked around as he heard two people coming up to where he was on the top of the tower. He had a feeling he knew who was coming and he looked back over his shoulder to see Romanoff's red head coming up out of the access panel, closely followed by Barton.

"Hey, Loki," Romanoff said in her offhanded way, stepping aside for Barton to come up. The god looked at the archer cautiously, almost fearfully, turning to face the man.

"Easy," Barton reassured him, holding his hands up at shoulder height. "I'm not going to be a jerk to you." Loki gave him a yeah right look and turned back to face the horizon line. Despite being so unnatural, there was something about the forest of metal buildings that he found slightly beautiful. "I was thinking, Loki, that I, uh, well, I haven't been treating you exactly the way that i should have been." Loki looked at him in mild surprise. "Sorry for trying to beat the crap out of you," he confessed lamely at a look from Nat, back to his normal personality. The Norse god shrugged it away and looked at Romanoff.

"Did you put him up to this?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"No. I just talked to him and he listened. Finally had some sense put in him," she said uninterestedly. "Just take the apology Loki. He's a good man to have as a friend." The dark haired adult nodded and walked past them to jump down from the top of the building - scaring the two assassins into thinking that he just committed suicide - onto the "landing pad" for the Iron Man suit, from where he walked back into the cold tower. Steve looked up at him along with Banner and the god could still see the gleam of humor in their eyes.

"What have i missed?"

"Phil fell out of a tree - " Banner began when Rogers interrupted.

" - Not that we're saying _that_ was funny _or_ the fact that he has a sprained wrist and bruised head..."

"The funny part is that those injuries came from falling on his childhood friend Nick Fury. More precisely the injury on Phil's head came from hitting said head on Fury's," Banner continued. "He's okay, don't worry about it," he added when he saw the flicker of worry in Loki's eyes. "He'll be fine in a little bit." The god searched for something else to talk about and found it when a gentle tickling sensation brushed across the back of his neck.

"There is still a draft. I thought that Stark had closed off the broken window?" Loki asked, curiously. Barton shrugged and walked by them to his room.

"Well, giant tarps, even if they're 'Stark Industries,' aren't exactly air proof," he answered. Loki tilted his head to the side and walked over to the gaping hole, reaching a hand out to place it on the wall. The rest of the Avengers watched in curious wonder as ice, thick layers of ice, spread across the hole, blocking it off in a window of ice.

"That should help for a while. It will melt, but only under much heat," the god admitted, tapping it to test his handiwork. Thor walked over and banged on it, making Loki jump and wait for it to shatter under his older brother's merciless pounding. But in the end it held and Thor beamed at Loki.

"Good work brother."

"Thanks, Thor," he whispered and at that moment, J.A.R.V.I.S. came on the PA.

"Pardon my interruption but Mr. Stark is returning with Miss Potts at this moment. He wants to leave immediately." The adults looked at each other and out at the horizon as they saw Stark's jet come flying in. At that moment, there was a loud scream - rather startling seeing as it came from Romanoff - and the two assassins came sprinting out of the hallway, bags on their shoulders, the Russian carrying a terrified Phil.

"'Tasha, who was he - "

"It's okay, Phil," she said tightly, holding him close as she backed away from the hallway, facing it this time with an expression reminiscent of a momma bear. A rather pissed off momma bear, too.

"Thanos - " panted Barton as he grabbed the nearest person to him - Steve - and tried dragging him out of the house. "Thanos...he was in Phil's room." Banner immediately dropped his bag and began turning green, Steve reached around him and grabbed his shield from where it was laying on top of his luggage and Thor hefted Mjolnir in his grip.

"Get outside," a voice surprised them. Loki was glaring in the direction of the bedrooms and stood up from where he had been sitting on the sofa, walking to stand before the hallway. "Now." Without hesitation, Nat turned and hurried outside to where the jet had landed on the roof, followed by Steve as a sort of rear guard with his shield. Banner took several deep breaths and slowly returned to his normal color, grabbing his stuff and Barton - who was prepping his bow - and heading after the others.

"Loki - " the doctor began, but the god threw him a look that clearly said go. The two men ran to the jet and got on, Phil immediately perking up when he saw the archer.

"Clint!" he cried, running over and hugging the archer.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Who was that?" Clint hesitated and didn't answer, instead strapping Phil into a seat beside Rogers, who still had his shield conveniently close.

"Where's Loki?" Tony asked, after doing a rapid head count. Natasha looked around.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. can you give us video footage of the inside of the tower on Loki's position?"

"I believe i can, Ms. Romanoff, allow me to reroute my power source." A flickering image was soon projected on the giant screen in the craft.

"What is he doing?" Pepper asked, before anyone else could.

000000

Loki watched in some trepidation as the hallway grew ice cold and an impending feeling of death seemed to crawl over his skin. He couldn't die. He hadn't saved someone four times. So he could do this. Buy some time.

He hoped.

Thanos' large frame filled the already spacious hallway and that menacing grin spread across his face. Loki's pathetic ice hand things gave him no comfort. Thanos laughed at him.

He could do this.

Still giving that evil, maniac grin and stare, Thanos lifted his hand and punched a hole clear through the wall.

Okay, maybe not.


	20. Chapter 20: Flying Leaps of Trust & Care

**JUST WATCHED THE STAR TREK TRAILER! AWESOMENESS! though not truly a trek film...random side that has nothing to with Avengers, but I was just fangirling all day today at school. :)BUT YES! BACK TO STORY! I HAVE JUST BEEN FUELED WITH WRITING INSPIRATION!**

Okay, it wasn't a maybe.

Definitely not.

Loki swallowed nervously and, as Thanos made a move to step out of the corridor, threw his arm out, throwing a strange sort of ice or magic projectile at the...creature. He couldn't even call Thanos a man. The "god" of death staggered back slightly at the impact but instead of falling, which was what Loki needed, he growled and charged forward, forcing the god of mischief to duck and roll to the side with miraculous speed. as he regained his footing though, his vision was swimming slightly and that slowed his reflexes. Thanos' fist came flying at his face and the god barely managed to duck by collapsing like a sack of potatoes on the floor and lashing out to kick Thanos' legs out from under him. The tremor from the massive being's body hitting the ground made the whole floor shake and Loki ran, leaping over the fallen enemy to run for the ice wall he had put up over the broken window.

_Come on, come on, come on_, Loki whispered in his mind as he heard the jet take off above him.

Thanos came running over at him and grabbed his neck, lifting him off the ground.

"Come on home, little prince," he growled, grinning. "We have to reward your _spectacular_ fail..." Loki managed a small smile.

"Sorry," he gasped. "I've got plans."

"You've no magic. how are you going to escape me?"

"I don't need _Asgardian_ magic," he wheezed, pulling his hand back. In an instant, Thanos was holding a blue Loki and felt a sharp dagger of ice slam into his stomach. However, while winding the man and cracking a rib, it didn't puncture the skin and Loki tried to swap to plan B. However, as he tried to flicker out of existence, Thanos tightened his grip and the Norse god eventually stopped struggling.

"What were you doing with Phil?" he choked and his foe smirked.

"Ascertaining potential weak points. He looks like an easy target to get the lot of you angry. Angry people are easier to manipulate, to defeat. And i just love death, don't I? And the sorrow that comes with it. Yes, I was ascertaining who the best victim will be. I think I've made my choice."

"Wrong choice," Loki growled, eyes burning. "Don't even _think _about_ touching _him_!_" Thanos swore in his native language as the Norse god vanished from his grip and appeared behind him. But as he charged at that one, it vanished under his swinging punch, sending him crashing into the hallway and the god reappeared by the ice wall. The jet began pulling away from the tower, waiting for something and Loki pulled back an ice encased hand and slammed it into the wall, shattering it. He looked at the distancing jet, noticing that Stark had opened the door, trying to make a landing platform for him with said door, and Loki backed up to the wall, sprinting.

_Please...just give me the strength to make this,_ he thought as his running feet reached the shattered hole and he pushed off, flying through the air. He felt a massive hand groping in the air immediately behind his head and breathed a sigh of relief. Thanos watched in disbelief as the god cleared the distance with near ease, leaping like a tree frog or something, reaching an arm out to the open doorway on the plane.

"COME ON, LOKI!" Tony shouted, wind whipping his hair around his face, holding a hand out to him while still keeping a firm grip on the handle bar. Just when the god thought that he was going to miss his narrow landing site, the billionaire's strong grip latched onto his forearm and his own foot landed firmly on the threshold of the entry way. Tony quickly pulled Loki safely inside and the aircraft pulled away, heading off into the distance. All of those on the plane could see Thanos angrily shouting something at them and then vanished in a sort of teleportation field. Throughout the windy plane, heavy breathing could be heard and everyone looked towards Loki.

"Brother, you are harmed?" Thor asked, worried, leading his brother away as Tony closed to door.

"I am a bit winded, drained, and sore, but I am well enough," Loki responded, rubbing his neck. "Thanos has a strong grip." Pepper immediately went on mothering mode, pestering Tony for a warm towel. "I'm afraid that my body temperature is lower than normal, too," he muttered, rubbing his hands in vain to get rid of the blue creeping across his skin. When one of the flight attendants returned with Pepper's warm towel, she walked over to Loki and handed it to him.

"Here. It's a warm towel. It should help with the cold," she smiled, wrapping his hands in it. "There you go. That should take care of it." Loki gave a brief smile and nodded his thanks at her before walking over to one of the seats and sitting down, regaining his breath and composure. In truth, the cloth was helping.

"What did he want?" Barton asked, still holding his bow. Loki looked up at Barton and then over at Phil, who was sitting on Rogers' lap as the adult comforted him.

"Leverage," Loki finally replied and saw the flicker of some emotion or memory in the boy's eyes. As though he understood what the adult had been trying to say. "Of a sort quite...expected...of his nature." Romanoff walked over to sit across from Phil and held the little boy's hand in comfort.

"Did he touch you at all, Phil?" she asked gently and he shook his head against Steve's chest.

"Who was he?" he asked again in a small voice. "Why did he hurt Loki?" His voice broke a little over the words 'why' and 'hurt.' Romanoff looked at him sadly.

"Phil, that was a very bad man. He likes to hurt people. And he has a grudge against Loki. Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah..." Romanoff nodded at him.

"Yeah. So that's why he hurt Loki. But he wouldn't just hurt _Loki_, he would hurt everyone. Just for the fun of it." Phil looked straight ahead of himself and didn't respond for a while.

"You mean like my dad?" he finally asked, looking around at her and the assassin grew sad that the boy had something to draw a parallel to. She watched as Steve held the boy a little closer.

"Yeah...like your dad." A flicker of fear was reflected in his eyes.

"Will he come for me again?"

"No. He won't, Phil," Bruce said firmly from where he was sitting. "And if he does, you just call us, okay? Thanos won't get near you." The boy seemed troubled and hesitated before saying what he wanted to say.

"I meant my _dad_," Phil said softly and an awkward silence fell over the cabin. Steve cleared his throat.

"We don't know, Phil. He might, he might not. But if he does, we're all here for you, okay? You call for us and we'll take care of it." Phil nodded and climbed off Steve's lap to look out of the window. His eyes widened as he watched the clouds slip past at a surprising rate.

"How fast are we going?" he asked, looking around at Tony and Steve got up to go and check something in his bag so that the billionaire could sit with him.

"Right now? About 600 to 700 miles an hour. Doesn't look that fast on the ground does it?" Phil looked down and then stared fixedly at it.

"No. Why?" Tony cleared his throat and shifted so he could look out the window too.

"It's like an...optical illusion in a way. You know what that it?" Phil tilted his head to the side.

"You mean like the black and white spiral circle thing?" Tony blinked at him a few times, trying to figure out what he was talking about and then nodded.

"Yeah, that thing. It's the same sort of trick, but a different illusion. We're actually going _really_ fast, it just doesn't seem that way." Phil nodded and then tried to look at the actual plane.

"Did you put your name on the plane?" Phil asked with an almost reprimanding tone and the other avengers silently laughed at Stark's affronted look.

"Of course I did! I want people to know it's _mine_."

"Ostentatious," Barton muttered and Tony threw Loki's discarded towel at him. "Hey, be a good example Tony!"

"Me, a good example? Where have you been living, Bird Brain? In the rafters with your pigeons?" Barton glared and Steve wisely intervened. He was yet to witness an aerial brawl - well, fighting aliens in the sky didn't count, he meant fighting in an airplane - and he didn't want to see it between these two, especially between a wound up Banner.

"Hey, cool it you two!" Steve ordered and they both shut up in time for the whole group to overhear Loki and Thor's conversation.

"Brother, I am fine, it was just a momentary relapse - "

"Lay down and rest, brother! I know that you are not telling me the truth in its entirety. You do not faint easily - "

"Thor, _shut up!_"

"You fainted?" Banner asked in surprise, going into doctoring mode.

"My brother exaggerates...i simply put my head down on the table and lost consciousness for - "

"You _collapsed_ on the table, Loki - "

"THOR!" Loki shouted standing sharply. However, this action did nothing to assist the god of mischief's claim for he promptly keeled over, out cold, by the rapid movement, but the hard hit of his head on the tables that Stark had in his craft was loud enough to make the comedic sight one for worry and concern.

"Oh my god!" Pepper cried and the six people crowded around the fallen god. "Is he alright?"

"Okay we need to get him laying down on something other than the floor," Banner ordered and Tony moved over to the three joined seats and folded them out so they formed a bed. "Thanks Tony," Banner muttered as he and Thor lifted the man onto the improvised sleeping area. "Barton can you bring me my kit? It's over in the corner. You said he didn't faint easily?"

"Never, unless he was really tired or injured severely," Thor answered in concern.

"Well, he has been using a lot of magic recently and you said that he was restricted in that?" Thor nodded reluctantly.

"As part of his punishment, Loki's magic was drastically reduced, save for healing."

"Okay then, i think that he's just been a little over worked recently. Just let him sleep, and I'm pretty sure he'll be okay soon," Banner advised, waving Barton away as he stood up. "Thanks, Clint. But he's fine, just over worked." Noting Thor's still unconvinced expression, Banner rolled his eyes. "Thor, trust me, okay? I'm a doctor and i know plain old overworking when i see it." Thor finally conceded to the doctor's verdict and walked over to sit across the aisle from his sleeping brother. By this point, the sun was starting to go down and Phil was starting to blink sleepily. However, he was still looking at Loki in an almost scared way.

"He's going to be okay, right?" he asked softly as Pepper led him farther down the plane. She looked down at him and nodded.

"Of course, of course Phil. Loki's going to be fine," she assured him, still disconcerted that _Phil_ of all people was showing this much concern for the man who almost killed him. "Now why don't we get your ready for bed. Are you hungry at all?" He shook his head and snuggled up on the chair to stare out the window.

"I lost my appetite..." Pepper smiled and put a hand on his head.

"Okay, Phil. Sleep tight," she whispered and on impulse leaned over and kissed the top of his head. Phil nodded and soon was dozing, small mind racing with what he had heard and seen. He didn't want anymore violence or hurting around him. He didn't.

Suddenly, Phil's eyes snapped back open and he found himself in the dark. Night time had fallen and he was breathing heavily with a nightmare he couldn't remember. All he knew was that his chest was hurting like someone had hit him really hard. Or stabbed him...He shook the thought aside and slipped off of the seat to wander a little bit. He was still scared about something he didn't know, something he couldn't remember and that was scaring him even more. Half stumbling around the cabin he looked at each of the people as they were sleeping.

Pepper and Tony were sleeping together, completely buried under blankets and out like two lights. He could understand that: they must do this often. He tilted his head to the side a little bit and thought to himself that they made a good couple and then wondered why he would care about that. His mind did confusing things lately and it was annoying him. Then, he heard a muffled thud and spun around, arms drawn up in fright. All it was though was Steve's hand hitting the wall with enough force to have dented it slightly. He was probably having another one of his nightmares about the war, occasionally tossing and turning and muttering names. Wait, how did he know that Steve had nightmares? Frowning even more, Phil turned away and found himself staring at Thor and Loki. THe dark haired sibling was sleeping in what looked to be the deepest sleep the man had had in a long time. Thor seemed a bit more on edge, but that didn't stop him from looking relatively relaxed as he sat propped up against the bed Loki was sleeping on as he sat on the floor, completely asleep. Heart still settling from Steve's accidental scare, he began wandering again and came upon Clint and Natasha completely snuggled up together like...what did they remind him of? Kittens was the first word that came to mind and he began giggling at that image. Then, he heard a noise again in the back of his head, a laugh that made him shiver and he spun around, half expecting to see the form of his father lurking in the shadows. Now, the once fascinating hum of the plane engines was threatening, intimidating.

He was scared. And it was night. And everyone was sleeping.

"You okay, Phil?" a sleepy voice asked and Phil started, turning around to see Banner sleepily sitting up and putting his glasses on. Phil looked down, shyly and scuffed the ground with his foot.

"Yeah..."

"You sure?" Bruce asked, not unkindly. Then, looking around and noting the still slightly rapid breathing of the little boy and noting the way he was looking back and forth with his eyes only, he added, "It's okay to be scared of the dark." Phil looked up at him and hurried to explain himself.

"It's not the dark that scares me. It makes me feel alone..." he admitted and Banner patted the bed next to him. What else could he do? Say oh, yeah that sucks, now go back to bed by yourself? He was _five _for crying out loud!

"you wanna talk about it?" Bruce asked after the boy got settled. Phil shook his head and then thought of something.

"So you turn into that big green guy?" he asked, turning around to face the adult. Banner sighed and rolled onto his back.

"Yeah."

"Why do you?"

"I had an accident...with radiation. Whenever i get angry..._that_...the other guy comes out."

"But he's a good guy though," Phil said confidently. Bruce shook his head.

"No. The Hulk - I mean, the other guy - he isn't a good person. He's not a good guy."

"But he helps people," Phil protested. "He saves people and defeats the bad guys. He's a good guy because he does that, right?" Bruce hesitated before continuing.

"He hurts innocent people, Phil. You see, the other guy...the Hulk?" Phil nodded. "He's just a mass of rage. That's it. He may have an enemy when he comes out, he might not. When he doesn't, he just hurts everyone. And even when he does have a set enemy sometimes there's no way to control it. Sometimes he hurts only the bad guy. But most of the time he hurts other people. People he loves and cares about but doesn't remember until it's too late."

"But he tries to help people. That makes him a good guy. You're a good guy Bruce," Phil said with childlike finality and hugged the tall man, falling asleep quite rapidly afterwards with his head resting on Banner's shoulder. Bruce took off his glasses and gently patted Phil's back.

"Thanks for your confidence, Coulson," he whispered and soon dropped off to sleep. When he woke up, Pepper, Steve, Clint, and Natasha would have their cameras out, snapping pictures of them sleeping together. Tony of course would be video taping them and Loki was trying to keep Thor from asking loudly what Bow Man, Friend Stark, Ms. Potts, Friend Steve, and Ms. Romanoff were trying to do so secretly. Needless to say after that, they all piled into the cockpit and made conversation with the very surprised, honored looking pilot while a slightly green Banner stalked up and down before the door, Phil trying not to look embarrassed about having pictures taken of him and drawing on some paper he had brought with him.


	21. Chapter 21: The Cupboard Under the Stair

**SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! finals...**

"Welcome to La Casa de Stark," Tony said with a flourish and Pepper rolled her eyes at her lover's flamboyant welcome. "Please don't destroy anything or make a mess." Phil looked at the building as he walked towards the house, eying the strange architecture with one hand in Steve's. It looked weird...like a stack of white pancakes mixed with a giant slide thing. It was confusing him.

"Where's the roof?" he asked blankly and Tony just looked at the boy in mild consternation.

"Well, the top of the building of course. Don't stress your little brain too much trying to figure it out." With a slightly condescending pat on the head - and Phil's subsequent reaction of sticking his tongue out at him - Tony opened the door, letting them into the spacious, beautiful house. "Welcome home." He stepped to the side with Pepper as Bruce walked in and made his way to the room Tony had set up for him as his permanent residence when he visited. Steve walked forward and let Phil's hand go as the boy ran to the glass to look out over the ocean. _It's so pretty..._he thought to himself and looked up at Loki as the adult walked up beside him and smiled, giving the god a hug. Instead of returning it, Loki looked down at the brown haired head and the arms wrapped around his waist, mildly startled. Thor smiled at his brother's discomfort and walked in to stand a little off to the side from them.

"Metal Man, you have a nice home. It is a beautiful view to the ocean from here," Thor boomed and Tony briefly smiled his thanks before clapping his hands together once in his manner of getting down to business.

"Okay, Capsicle, there's a guest room up a floor, J.A.R.V.I.S. will show you the way. Romanoff, Barton, you guys know where your room is, so you can drop your bags off in there. Thor, Loki, there's another guest room opposite of Rogers' so you guys can stay there. I assume you two have no problem sharing a room, seeing as you have for who knows how long." Loki gave the man a borderline dangerous look that vanished almost immediately as though he were ashamed it had ever shown. Natasha, though she acted distracted by something else, noted it and filed the action away for future reference. "As for Phil...um...well, there's the cupboard under the stairs?"

"Tony!" Pepper admonished, hitting his arm. "He is NOT sleeping under the stairs!"

"What?" he asked defensively. "It was a Harry Potter ref...never mind. No, Phil, you're not sleeping under the stairs - " he amended, noting the groups' disapproving stares.

"Can I?" the child suddenly asked, eager.

"What?" Tony asked, taken aback.

"Can I sleep under the stairs?" Phil asked hopeful. "Please! It'll be fun!"

"Umm...Sure. Why not?"

"Tony, I don't think that's - "

"You sleep in the _vents_, Bird Brain, so don't even start telling me that sleeping under the stairs is a bad idea," Tony retorted, looking over at the archer. "So, Phil, let Pepper just clean that out for you..."

"No. You can clean it, Tony."

"Why me?" While the couple argued and J.A.R.V.I.S. led the other adults to their rooms, Phil was left standing awkwardly on his own in the middle of the very big, spacious room. Swinging his bag back onto his back, he walked over to the direction of the big winding stair case. Underneath, there was a door that clearly hadn't been opened in a long time since a thin coat of paint has sealed it shut in a way. Grabbing the little white door knob firmly in his hands he jerked back and the door swung open to reveal a room that, while still small, was bigger than he anticipated. He dropped his bag in there and sat down on the ground. there was nothing in here, so he didn't see why the others were arguing about cleaning it. After contemplating what to do for a few minutes, he decided on exploration. Ditching his belongings and, carefully making as little noise as possible, ran up the stairs to find himself in another big room

The giant window again drew him closer and he walked up to it to stare out over the ocean. Oceans...a strange blue cube flashed behind his eyes and the ground around him rocked massively as though with an earthquake and he fell over, immediately sitting up as he realized nothing else in the room had moved. A low sensation of fear prowled around in his stomach and he didn't know why. the ground moved again as he was standing back up and he fell down again.

"Phil, are you okay?" Steve asked gently, walking over to him to help him up.

"Why's the ground shaking?" the boy asked, looking up at his childhood hero.

"The ground isn't shaking Phil. Are you feeling okay?" When Phil didn't respond but stared off into space, Steve knelt down in front of him so that they were eye to eye. Suddenly, the boy's head whipped back around to look at Steve and he asked a question that made the super soldier's heart skip a beat.

"What's the Tesseract? Why's it misbehaving?" he asked in a voice that said he wasn't entirely there.

"Tesseract?" Banner asked, sticking his head into the room. "Damn, TONY!" he shouted, running down the steps. "Steve, I'll be right back, CHANGE THE TOPIC!"

"Phil, what did you do since the last time i saw you?" he asked the boy and Phil looked at him in bafflement.

"I don't know, how should i know? It's been years."

"Years?" Steve asked, taken aback. "This is not good, um...what's the first song you learned to play on the piano?"

"the one I played at the tower," he said, confident in his answer.

"When was that?" Steve asked slowly.

"A few days ago."

"Okay, now how long ago did your mother die, Phil?" he asked gently. The boy hesitated.

"A long time ago," he finally answered softly.

"I'm sorry to bring that up, Phil, but i needed to check something," Rogers said sadly, picking him up and carrying him over to Stark who was running up the stairs. "Time's all messed up for him. He remembers the Tesseract, the base collapsing, stuff from when he was an adult, thinks the last time he saw me was years ago, and...his timeline is just screwed up."

"Memory and aging thing is kicking in," Tony muttered to himself before looking Phil in the eye.

"What's going on?" he asked, borderline frightened and Barton, Thor, Loki, and Romanoff came into the room.

"Phil, what is the last thing you remembered?" the billionaire asked seriously.

"I was looking out the window?" he said uncertainly. "I don't know."

"Okay, Phil, i think you may just be tired, why don't we get you somewhere to sleep," Banner said gently and Steve passed him off to the doctor. "Tony, can you put that weird fold up bed thing under the stairs for him?" Tony nodded and Clint followed him to a closet to help him put up the bed under the stairs. "So, Phil what do you feel right now?" No answer. "Phil?" Banner pulled back a little and looked down at the boy sighing and shaking his head as he realized he was asleep. "Romanoff, can you take him, i have to go put some data about his condition into the lab."

"Yeah, sure," she said and took the sleeping boy into her arms, walking downstairs with him. Barton and Tony had just finished setting up the bed and she set the boy down on it, pulling the covers up over his small body. She sat beside him on the bed for a while and closed the cupboard door on them, simply waiting in the dark.

"Oh, Phil," she finally whispered and gently put a hand on his head. "We're trying to fix this. We really are...I promise." She stood up softly and left the cupboard, walking straight for the lab. She had to talk with Banner.

Phil opened his eyes when he heard the soft click of the door closing and rolled over onto his back. Yes, he was tired, but his concern over what was happening to him was making him nervous and he couldn't sleep when he was nervous. He forced his eyes to close and told himself over and over that they would make it better, Tony and Bruce would make it better...

SLAM.

Phil jumped and looked up at the ceiling fearfully as something was slammed against the wall above him.

"What the hell, Rogers!" he heard Tony growl and then heard the equally angry voice of Steve respond.

"You need to get this under control, Tony," he said in a voice that brooked no argument.

"I need to get this under control? Look, Rogers, I'm working on this as fast as i can - "

"Tony, you need to start treating this as the serious case that it is."

"I can only do so much with the data at hand - "

"You built your arc reactor in a cave with scraps, Tony. Solve this problem right now."

"Look, what do you think I'm trying to do?!" Tony nearly shouted and Phil shrank further down in his blankets. "I can only work so fast with solving Phil's problem, okay? And i want to fix it!"

"Then get in the lab and work on it!" There was silence for a few seconds before Steve started talking again, tone still reprimanding and serious. "What do you think is going to happen when he remembers about Manhattan? What do you think is going to happen when he remembers what happened between him and Loki. He experiences everything physical and mental that happened to him in one life in this one, so what do you think is going to happen when he remembers what happened in the detention cell? Will he get stabbed again? And will that even be able to heal - Tony, he's a boy going through what a battle hardened agent went through. We don't even know if his body will be able to handle that sort of injury. And do we know if he's been shot, stabbed, during his service? How will he handle that now?" There was silence above Phil and the boy grew more and more scared.

"Look...Steve, we don't even know if that will happen or not - "

"You know it probably will, Tony. Which is why you have to stop it before it does," Steve interrupted, voice more reasonable than it had been before. "And we can't let him go through what happened on the Helicarrier not only for his sake but for Loki's."

"Loki's?" Tony asked incredulous. "What does Rock of Ages have to do with any of this?"

"When we picked him up off the corn fields, he was still a little bit of a jerk. He comes in and starts hanging out with Phil...he changed, Tony. He's become more and more personable, has a sense of humor. Tony, Phil's changed him from what he was before. Phil is basically his little bundle of joy that keeps him sane and makes him feel like he belongs. The one person who doesn't judge him for what he did before. Imagine what would happen to him if Phil suddenly was scared of him. Hated him. Tried to run from him the moment he saw him. That would break everything good that had happened to that man and you know it. If you want a devastated, already unstable god on your hands, Tony, and a traumatized child be my guest. But if you don't, you had best solve the problem at hand right now." The door creaked open and Phil immediately closed his eyes, shivering involuntarily as the person sat on the bed beside him, hand reaching out to settle on his shoulder in comfort.

"We are trying, Rogers," Tony responded, voice becoming testy again. "But this isn't as simple as an arc reactor. We do this wrong, Phil dies. Or worse. We need to do this with every precaution possible if we want him to survive and be normal again, and even then i don't know how normal he'll be at the end." The voices carried on a little bit as low murmurs and then their footfalls on the steps faded as they headed to the lab together.

"When you do remember, Phil," a sad voice said from beside him and the hand on his shoulder tightened ever so slightly. "Know that could I...I would go back in time and stop myself from doing what i did. I would kill my past self and therefore never meet you as a child and never exist in the future to stop myself from doing what I did to you." He hesitated and continued in a broken tone, "And if you hate me...I'll understand." At that point, Phil sat up and wrapped his arms around Loki, startling the god.

"I'd never hate you, Loki," he said in protest and Loki froze, catching the boy as he nearly fell off the bed in the force of his hug attack.

"I don't think that's going to always be true, Phil," he said sadly and stood up, ducking under the door frame, closing the door and walking to the outdoor deck, perching on the wall as though he were going to jump. The waves came in and rolled out, and there was something meditatively relaxing about it.

Waves coming in and rolling out, leaving the terrain unchanged, though over time, enough waves and the landscape would be drastically altered. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future, he mused, and the waves rolled in and out.


	22. Chapter 22: Confessions and the Undertow

It was early morning the next say and Tony swore, throwing the closest thing to him across the room as hard as he could, which just happened to be a hammer. Bruce, who was walking in the lab stopped just by the door, tensing up as the metal instrument went flying past his face, hitting the concrete wall so hard it cracked and chipped the wall.

"What's wrong?" he asked him, walking over to his friend who was sitting on a table, knees drawn up to himself and head resting on his folded arms. "Tony?"

"Look at the damn scans," he muttered, waving a hand half-heartedly to the projection Dummy was trying to grab. Banner didn't bother turning around but kept his hand on his science buddy's shoulder.

"I saw," he said softly and sat on the table with him. "That's why the wall took a pounding."

"It's getting worse, and i have no idea how to stop it. I should have figured it out by now, damn it, _why'd I make the stupid machine, Bruce?!"_ he moaned, slamming his head against his arms. "I should have listened to you and not made it."

"Tony, mistakes happen, and we can fix them. It just takes some time," he said, gently rubbing his friend's back. "Just don't get low on me with this, okay?" Tony nodded. "Let's look at this as clearly and as straightforwardly as possible."

"Yeah, sure," he said in an offhanded tone and sat up straighter, looking at the scan in resilient defeat. "But how do we solve that?" Banner shook his head and looked at the scans with Tony.

"I don't know. Maybe we should focus first on stopping the aging process and the memory problem; make sure he just stays as a normal child." There was a sudden clattering on the stairs and mingled laughter drifted down to them. "J.A.R.V.I.S. hide all information pertaining to Phil Coulson," the radiologist said quickly and the screens went blank as Phil, riding on Clint's shoulders came down the steps.

"Careful, Clint, you almost hit my head on the ceiling!" Phil shouted and Clint immediately stooped down, the boy almost toppled over the adult's head, clinging to the archer's head, legs wrapped around his shoulders in an effort not to fall onto the floor.

"Can we go to the beach today, Tony?" he asked, looking at the now upside down billionaire. "Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssseeeee ?"Banner looked over at Tony, eyebrow raised as he waited for the answer as well.

"Just to let you know it's freezing cold. It's winter: water's going to be like ice."

"So? I like cold water," Phil said simply and Tony threw up his hands in defeat.

"Yeah, sure Phil. Why don't you go wake up the others. I'm sure Clint can help you figure out how to do that in an entertaining way." Phil grinned and Clint swung him down onto the ground.

"Okay, Phil, let's go wake up Loki. He can help us wake up Nat and Steve and Thor, and then we can all head down to the water okay?" Clint led Phil back up to the main floor, racing him to the Russian's bedroom. Tony looked over at Bruce and the scientist shook his head.

"You go, Tony. I'll deal with this. You seriously need a break and there is no better way for you to get rid of the stress than to babysit your fellow Avengers. Then again, _you_ alone would probably need a babysitter - "

"Which is why Pepper's coming," Tony finished and walked out of the lab, rubbing his head as though he were trying to rid it of any sort of troubling thoughts. Then, two separate loud shouts were heard from upstairs that carried down to them loud and clear in the basement lab.

"CLINT BARTON, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" and the two assassins came tumbling down the steps, the red head soaking wet and looking like a very displeased cat.

"IT WAS LOKI'S IDEA!" Clint shouted from underneath her and she sprang to her feet, running back up the steps and Phil was soon seen running through the house a meowing black cat in his arms as Natasha chased him.

"Phil, give me Loki!"

"You're going to hurt him!" Phil shouted back and continued running, ducking into the nearest door, slamming it shut, and locking it, falling on the ground, panting. He looked down at Loki the cat and began giggling.

"Mreeeeeooooooooooooowwwwwww..." Loki meowed and scampered behind Phil.

"What's wrong?"

"Phil why are you in here?" came Steve's voice and Phil looked over his shoulder to see the adult sleepily looking up from his pillow from under a pile of blankets.

"Nat's trying to kill Loki, so we hid in here. Sorry we woke you up," the boy explained and the cat jumped up onto Steve's bed startling him so that he lashed out and the cat went flying across the room to hit the floor as a frazzled Asgardian.

"Okay, why is Nat trying to kill Loki?" Steve asked sitting up and pulling a shirt over to himself from his night stand.

"Because Clint and I were waking up everyone to go down to the beach and Clint wanted to prank people awake so he asked Loki for some help. He suggested pouring ice water on her and so - "

"STEVE OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" Nat yelled and the super soldier nodded to himself.

"I get it," he told the boy, getting up and opening the door. The assassin pushed by him to stare angrily before her. Ten Lokis. Perfect.

"Fine," she said and walked out of the room, trailing water behind her from her dripping clothing. Loki heaved a sigh of relief and all of his mirages coalesced into one person.

"So, do you wanna come to the beach with us?" Phil asked Steve and the man looked down at him and shrugged.

"Do I really have a choice?" Phil thought for a moment and shook his head.

"No, not really," he conceded and scampered off, dragging Loki with him. "COME ON TIME TO WAKE UP THOR!"

"I don't think that is a good idea!" Steve called after them and Loki looked over his shoulder at him. "He's not exactly a morning person!"

"I lived for a long time with him and have a whole assortment of ways to wake him up. I hear curiosity is a predominant trait of the human race," he added and continued with Phil, Clint, and Nat up the stairs. After a few seconds hesitation, Steve swore softly.

"Damn it," he whispered and hurried up the stairs to catch up with the others.

000000

"Okay, what are we doing?" he asked as he came up behind them and Loki smirked.

"Knew you'd show up. Thor doesn't wake up easily. So I say we throw Phil on him."

"What if he hurts him?!" Clint hissed and Loki stopped, thinking.

"Ah, do you have something i believe you call an air horn?" Nat got an evil look in her eyes.

000000

Thor was dreaming. It was a nice dream full of daisies and green hills and his friends. He was with Sif and the warriors three, but there was decidedly something mischievous about them. Something more mischievous about them than normal...what was it?

And that was when something landed on him screaming something and his ears felt like they exploded with a REALLY loud noise.

000000

"WAKE UP THOR!" the boy screamed as Steve - they had forced him to do it - carefully threw Phil, who was wearing shooting range ear muffs, onto the bed so he landed flat on top of the sleeping god. Simultaneously, Nat, Clint, and Loki pressed down on the air horns right by his head and Steve even flinched at the loud noise: Thor was not going to be happy.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF VALHALLA?" he shouted and sat upright, hands over his ears. "LOKI!" The younger brother's eyes widened and he hastily made for the door, Thor vaulting out of bed and chasing his sibling down the stairs.

Tony was coming up from the lab when Loki, closely followed by Thor, ran by right in front of him, making him stop abruptly so he wasn't split in two.

"What is it today? National Chase Loki Day?" he called after them and saw the others come down stairs with the air horns and Phil with the ear muffs. "Hey!" he said disapprovingly and they all looked at him. "Next time involve me in this please, thanks! I would have loved to do that to Point Break here."

"Brother you are cheating now!" they heard Thor call and they came over to find Loki as a small lizard clinging to the ceiling.

"I think that's not cheating for him, that's using his own creativity to stay alive," Steve commented, noting Mjolnir in the blond god's hand. Thor, following his comrade's gaze sighed and put the hammer down.

"Good fun, Loki, you can come down now," he said gruffly and walked over to the kitchen, Pepper sliding him a pop tart.

"Knew you would ask for one, so I beat you to it," she said, smiling. Thor smiled back briefly and began eating. "Did you guys already eat? Tony told me about going down to the beach."

"Clint and I ate," Phil said, back at a table in their "sitting room" and drawing. Pepper leaned over and whispered something to Clint and the adult walked over to him.

"Hey, Phil, do you want to go down right now before everyone else?" Phil nodded eagerly and took Clint's offered hand, walking to the outside deck and starting down the long set of stairs to the beach way below them. By the time they got down, Phil was getting a bit tired and wanted to rest so he and Clint walked to the top of a sand dune and sat there, looking out at the ocean.

"It's pretty isn't it, Phil?" he asked and the boy shook his head, suddenly looking a little sad. "What's wrong?" Phil looked over at him.

"What am I?" he asked, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"What do you mean?" Clint asked carefully. Phil shrugged.

"I don't know. Everyone's talking about something bad happening to me if they don't do something right and do it fast. I don't know what it is though. And i want to know. I want to know why i have weird dreams i can never remember and why i randomly remember things that have never happened to me, and why Loki told me he was so sorry for doing something to me and telling me that he would go back in time and kill his past self so i wouldn't get hurt. He thought i was asleep because i was faking i was asleep," he added noting Clint's slightly angry expression.

Clint sighed and put an arm around Phil's shoulder.

"Phil, you have to realize that there are somethings that we can't talk to you about right now. And that science is a...a fickle thing. Sometimes it works, and...well, sometimes things don't go as planned. You get what I'm saying?" Phil nodded and looked at the ocean again, the blue sky making the water sparkle.

"Stark did something, didn't he?" he asked, looking over at him. "I don't want to know what, I just want to know if it was him." Clint ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, weighing his options. "You don't have to say anything. I know it was him." He hesitated a bit longer than usual before continuing. "Is it dangerous?" Clint looked over at the wide eyed innocent boy next to him. And decided it was time to stop lying.

"Yeah," he said, clearing his throat afterwards since his voice came out weird. "Stark was messing around in the lab and - "

"I turned into a five year old again. I used to work with you guys." Clint looked down at him in surprise. "I told you that I'm smart. I just pay attention." Clint laughed a little and Phil leaned against him, both silent. "Race you down the hill!" he suddenly said and got to his feet, taking off his shoes and running down the hill, laughter carrying up to the adult. Clint shook his head and pulled off his shoes as well, running down to catch up.

"WHOOHOO!" Phil screamed, jumping the last few feet of the slope to summersault in the soft deep sand of the flat part of the beach. He looked around at Clint and smiled and the archer felt sad seeing that it was a smile he remembered. "It's fun being a kid. At least i wasn't turned into an old man." He and Clint were laughing, the laughter continuing to be contagious so that it continued non stop. When the others came down, they couldn't help but smile at the sandy mess of Clint and Phil at the bottom of the hill.

"Something funny you guys?" Tony asked as they began setting up their towels and stuff on the sand. "Did you try the water yet? I'm sure it's going to be too cold for you." Phil gave him a look and got up, running over to the water, soon swimming out so he was up to his waist.

"IT'S FINE!" he shouted back and Clint immediately followed him in, shivering slightly at the cold.

"Phil I don't think you should be that far out!" he called and Phil immediately began walking back. "You guys coming? It's a bit nippy at first, but it gets better." Loki raised an eyebrow as he saw that the men were only wearing shorts as they went into the water, Natasha staying out with Pepper.

"Is it not more logical for them to go in the water like Phil and Clint, instead of scantily clad like that?" he asked Pepper and she looked up from her book.

"Well, they're insane, so I don't know. Most people go in swim clothes though, like them." She hid a laugh. "Though i guess they do look 'scantily clad' to you guys. How many layers of clothing do you wear?" she asked in an aside and Loki didn't answer. "Nat, why don't you go in?"

"I'm not insane," she answered and idly drew figures in the sand beside her. "Ever build a sand castle, Loki?" she asked, looking at the slightly out of place god.

"A what?" he asked and Nat motioned for him to come over.

"First, can you conjure up a bucket?" Loki gave her a look and a sudden weight appeared on her foot, the requested bucket by her. "Thanks. I'll be right back." She walked over to the water and came back, pants soaked, but with her bucket of water. "Put a bunch of sand in there, get it all wet and pour it out onto the ground. Start shaping." She was walking back to her seat when a small pebble hit her in the back of the head. Thrown from the direction of the beach.

Tony immediately ducked underwater as he saw his victim turn around to glare venomously. he was starting to have slight worries about his decision to provoke her into the water, but it wasn't likely that she would go as far as to -

SMACK

Steve hurriedly swam away from the angry assassin as she jumped into the water in a perfect dive, pinpointing Tony's exact location and attacking him underwater.

"Should we do something?" Phil asked as he watched the two adults wrestle for dear life in the water. Clint shook his head.

"Not unless you want to die." Finally, Tony broke the surface and made a beeline for the sand, scrambling out and heading for the nearest dune. "RUN TONY, RUN!" he shouted after him for good measure. The billionaire seemed to take his advice and perched at the top of the dune for a good vantage point. Nat wasn't even leaving the water; instead, she was prowling around the surface of the water, top half of her head out in the air like some sort of alligator, crocodile or something.

"Isn't the water fun, Nat?" Phil asked swimming over to her. She stood up and looked around at him and smiled.

"I love the water, Phil. Always have."

"I don't remember that," he almost said and stopped, looking over at Clint. The memory thing was getting worse. But then Phil's eyes widened and he ran out of the water to stand by Loki gawking at the sand castle he was making.

"How'd you DO that? It's all frozen!" Pepper looked up from the book she was reading and began gawking as well. "Did you freeze the water in whatever shape you wanted and then it made the shape?"

"Yes," Loki answered absently, using a long sliver of ice to chip away at the sand, creating a perfect replica of Asgard. Thor walked up out of the water and stared down at the sculpture, equally surprised.

"Brother that is amazing!" he complimented and Loki again absentmindedly answered.

"Thanks." Thor grinned evilly as an idea hit him.

"Time for some vengeance!" he suddenly shouted and Romanoff quickly swam out of the way as Loki went flying through the air into the water where she had been treading water. The dark headed god quickly broke the surface and swam for the nearest tide pool, climbing up it to sit there completely soaking wet. Thankfully he was wearing some of Steve's old clothes and not his armor or he may have just sunk.

"Thor!" he gasped, glaring at his brother with red eyes as the skin on his hands and face began turning blue. "What was that for?!"

"Vengeance," he said simply going back into the water. "I bet i can swim faster than you can." Loki glared at him.

"Wrong."

"Prove it," he goaded and Loki looked out at a small outcrop down the coast. Following his brother's gaze, Thor smirked.

"Start now!" And the two brothers were gone in a flurry of water.

"GO LOKI!" Phil shouted and Tony, who suddenly appeared back in the water with them, sent a wave of water crashing into the boy's face. "HEY!" he shouted and sent water crashing back into Tony, who retaliated.

"Bring it on Agent!" he teased and Phil backed closer to the waves, the adult following. "running away isn't going to work!"

"I'm not running away!" Phil said and ducked underwater, the large wave that had been coming up behind him crashing into the startled adult whose mouth was unfortunately wide open in shock.

"Nice one, Phil!" Nat laughed as Tony sat up coughing out water. "Tony, i can't believe you didn't see that coming."

"I was focused on other things!" he protested and Pepper immediately stood up, looking at the water, watching Steve feeling around below the surface.

"Phil?" she called and the two assassins and the billionaire immediately turned around, watching in unwilling nervousness as the super soldier searched the water around them. "Steve, where is he?" she called again, setting her book down and wading into the water. Steve, who had been below the surface, came back up and looked around at them, empty-handed.


	23. Chapter 23: Somebody Save Me

Under the surface of the water, much farther out than he had originally been, Phil looked around himself in fear, yanking and pulling on the old deep sea fishing net that had tangled around his legs. He found it ironic that his mind had time to reason out that it had probably been washed in from its original place farther out in the large storm they had just had in the area, and that he himself got here because of the undertow of the wave he had ducked under, like an idiot. He should be more focused on how it was going to kill him but, no. His mind had to be focused on how it got there in the first place, and how he got there. But the more he tried to kick and pull the more it seemed to him he got tangled and the rational mind of his adult self, which had been operating at this point fell to the more fearful child mentality and he made the mistake of screaming, bubbles of precious air escaping his finger tips as they drifted up to the distant surface

Ten painfully long seconds later, his mind went blank.

_"I don't think we should swim in there, Nick."_

_"It's FINE, Phil! I've been down here all the time!"_

_"But the supervisors told us not to!"_

_"Who cares? They're just concerned about their job," the older child said, walking easily out onto the fallen tree, jumping off of it into the water. "It's still as deep as it was last spring! I'm going to go try and reach the bottom again. I always get close but can never get all the way down."_

_Phil sat on the log, looking on in worry and precognitive foreboding. He waited a minute and a half for his best friend to resurface, but nothing happened. _

_"Nick? Nick?"_

"Phil!" a voice blurred by the water around him called, and he didn't respond. Didn't feel like it, he was too tired...

_"Nick?! NICK!"_

Loki was mid swimming back to where the others were, well ahead of Thor, when he sensed something wasn't wrong and stopped moving, forcing himself down into the dark water. The water seemed to vibrate with some disturbance, sound carried through water, and he squinted his eyes into the darkness, seeing a person struggling against the water as though he was caught in something and immediately the water around his feet turned to ice and, using the growing ice as a means to propel himself faster than he could swimming, he arrived beside the form heart stopping as he recognized the messy hair in the gloom. Ice growing along his hand, he tried cutting the netting that he noticed the boy's fingers were tangled in. Swearing about a hundred words a second, he allowed ice to encase his whole arm and slashed it across the netting well below the boy and, satisfied that every strand of it was cut, he wrapped his free arm around the boy and the ice began growing again, shooting them upwards into the air, the inky darkness of the water gradually growing lighter and lighter.

_NICK! he shouted and following his friend's lead, jumped into the water and swam down into the darkness, finding his friend's arm and pulling him upward, yanking and pulling until Nick's legs were pulled free of the tangling weeds that grew at the bottom of the pond. He kicked off the ground, and pulled his friend up to him as they broke the surface, Phil gasping and striking out for the bank. As soon as they broke the surface, Nick began coughing and after a little bit helped his friend by carrying his own weight._

Loki broke the surface, the ice column growing up out of the water until they were easily three feet above the waves, Phil coughing and clinging to the person who had pulled him out.

"PHIL!" Pepper screamed and they all watched as the ice slowly melted down and Loki created a walkway of frozen water for himself to walk to the shore, stumbling a few times as the residual netting caught in his feet.

"I've got him Loki. Loki." The god looked down at him and Steve saw in that expression that Loki was still trying to wrap his mind around what he had just done, what he had stopped. "You did it, he's going to be okay. Lay him down." Loki nodded and set the boy down on the chair they had, Steve pulling out his pocket knife and cutting away the netting, expression grim.

"Irresponsible fishermen," Clint muttered and began gathering the towels with Romanoff while Tony ran up to the house quickly to grab an old sweatshirt of his. After Pepper made sure he was wrapped in lots of towels (and wearing Tony's sweatshirt), sitting on Steve's lap on one of the chairs they brought, he finally said something and it made everyone's fears vanish.

"Still like cold water," he muttered and slowly everyone relaxed. "Where's Loki?"

"What has happened?" Thor asked, coming ashore. "I saw my brother use his ice to speed ahead. I thought he was cheating, not doing something important."

"Phil almost drowned," Natasha said softly and Thor immediately grew concerned. "Loki saved him." Perfectly timed, Loki came on scene and quickly wrapped a newly conjured up towel around his arm, hiding it from view, seemingly uncaring that his whole body was blue.

"What's wrong Reindeer Games?" Tony asked noting the suspicious way Loki was behaving. "Despite the fact you're...blue." Loki looked up, red eyes wide.

"Nothing. Are you alright Phil?"

"Yeah. Thanks for cutting the net with your ice arm," he said softly, pointing to Loki's towel arm, the god hiding it behind his back again.

"About that," he said, turning to Thor. "I have a slight problem." Thor pulled Loki to the side and raised an eyebrow in question. After looking around a little, Loki held his towel arm out to his brother. "Take it off and look at it." Warily, Thor pulled off the fabric and his eyes widened at the shredded sleeve and the ice covered arm. "I can't get it to go away."

"Well...how'd you get to come?" Thor asked uselessly and Loki let his arm fall down to his side and and rolled his eyes.

"Never mind. Jotun stuff." He turned and walked back to the others, Tony pointing at his arm immediately.

"WHOAH, WHAT'S UP WITH YOUR ARM?"

"I told you that -" hiccup "- was the ice arm he used to cut the net," Phil said and Steve had to hide a smile at the funny way that he was talking with the chattering teeth and hiccups at the same time.

"Can you make it go away?" Clint asked and Loki sighed heavily.

"Usually. Right now though it's not cooperating." Bending down, Nat picked up a rock and walked over to Loki, holding his arm still and slamming a rock down on the ice, shattering the thin layer.

"OW!" Loki shouted, jumping away from her. "Stupid, that's still part of my skin!" Phil laughed at him and got up, walking over to the sand dune and climbing up it to sit at the top, staring out at the sun, Clint and eventually the others joining him. They sat in companionable silence, some of them occasionally talking in low voices, but never disturbing the silence.

"Can we stay till sunset?" he asked hours later at the end of the day. They were all soaking wet and the scenery around them was greatly changed. No one had gone back into the water, but the sand dune they were on was now a giant sand castle, with a small village surrounding the ground around them. "It's awesome up here, thanks Loki." the god smiled briefly, shivering and trying to force his skin color to go back to normal.

"No problem. It's really Thor you should thank for making it rain first so that i could freeze the sand into these shapes."

"Thanks Thor," he said and leaned against the Frost Giant, nearly falling asleep.

"Well Loki, here's your world to rule over," Tony joked, standing and making a grand, sweeping gesture out to the sand village. "People of Silica, this is your king, god, and creator, Loki Laufeyson!" The others laughed and Loki grew red in the face, skin finally going back to normal in his embarrassment. "Give tribute to him or you shall be destroyed by giant flying...swimming...whatever-ing space worms and weird cybernetic yet not cybernetic beings on snow speeders that speed on air!"

"Tony," Pepper quietly admonished midst everyone's laughter, pointing to Loki who was looking sad and ashamed, hand tightening on Phil's. "Take it easy on him, he's trying to get better."

"It really does not matter, Pepper," Loki said, just as soft. "Those who judge me and think negatively of me do so rightly."

"What happened to second chances?" Phil asked and an awkward silence stretched out on the battlements as they over looked the ocean. "I'd always give you a second chance Loki. I mean you've saved my life twice."

_You've saved my life twice._

Loki stopped moving for a split second as he thought over that line. There was something he should be worrying about when Phil said that, but there was nothing that was coming to mind. At that moment, the sun set and the world was slowly growing darker.

"It is pretty..." Loki finally said and they watched him carefully. The god seemed dejected and now Tony saw what Steve was talking about when he saw that Loki's only contact was his arm around Phil's shoulder as the boy leaned into him, dozing off. "It is a shame that I never thought of this world as anything other than a source of vengeance." Pepper looked at him sadly. "I do apologize for everything," he whispered and put his head on his knees. "Even when i come for safety, i endanger this world. And for that i really and truly apologize." they sat in silence for a few more minutes and then Phil perked up.

"It's Christmas eve tomorrow. that feels really weird," he said and Loki and Thor looked at the others baffled.

"What is Christmas?" the blond man asked and the other adults looked at the two curious siblings.

"That's an explanation for the house. Shall we go back?" Tony asked and everyone stood up, ready to go back to the house. "I've got stuff to do and Phil you look like you're ready to pass out there." Instinctively, Phil sat up straighter and began blinking a lot to get rid of the webs of sleep.

"No I"m not," he protested.

Halfway up the stairs heading back to the house, he passed out in Pepper's arms.

000000

That night, Steve woke up to the sounds of banging from underneath him and what sounded like a single raised voice. He pushed himself out of bed and walked out of his room and downstairs, the noise growing louder as he realized it was Phil's room. He looked around and saw Tony coming out of his and Pepper's room as well.

"Phil?" he asked and opened the door, Phil sitting up in bed and nearly hitting his head on the beam, eyes filled with tears that began falling as soon as he saw the man in the doorway. "What's wrong?"

Tony walked down the steps half asleep and waited by the last step listening to the conversation.

"I had a nightmare..."

"Was it about what happened at the beach today?" he heard Steve's gentle voice say and he heard the soft noise of assent from the child. "It's okay to have nightmares, Phil. _I_ have nightmares sometimes. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he heard Phil whimper and he walked around the corner to see Phil hugging Steve closely, getting his tears under control.

"Hey, Phil," he said softly and sat by him, Steve gently pulling away and watching. "I have nightmares about drowning too," he said and gave a sad, comforting smile. "I was taken by some bad guys and they kept trying to drown me. I know that you don't want to talk about it, but I just want you to know that you're not alone. We all have traumas that haunt us." Phil nodded and Tony tucked him back into bed. "Do you want me to sing that song for you again?"

"Yes please," Phil whispered, holding the blankets close to himself in a way of comfort.

"Goodnight Phil," Steve said softly and after placing a hand gently on the boy's forehead briefly, he stood and walked out, back up to his room. As he was trying to fall asleep, he couldn't help but hear Tony's voice muffled through the wooden boards and the walls.

_Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing...onward the sailors cry..._

000000

the next morning, Pepper woke up to find that her boyfriend was not in the bed with her. Puzzled, she got up and walked downstairs to, checking to find that Phil was sound asleep still. Then she heard a loud exclamation from downstairs and ran down there, images of disasters running through her head. Instead she found Banner getting dragged across the room, looking as though he hadn't slept a single wink the whole night, in a tight hug by Tony who was singing loudly in what she thought was something celebratory but she couldn't be sure.

Yep, it was that Christmas hallelujah canon.

"BRUCE, I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE AMAZING!"

"Excuse me?" Pepper said, mock offended and Tony turned to face her, running over and pulling her into the work room to point at a scan and lots of arithmetic.

"You didn't sleep at all last night, missed out on a bunch of fun, and it paid off," he said, happiness literally radiating off of him. "Bruce you did it."

"I don't get it. What did he do?" Pepper asked staring at the alien language before her that was really complex math.

"He fixed the problem. We can stop the memory jumping and make him a normal kid," Bruce said, exhausted. "We can make the tumor that's growing and giving him those headaches and increasing the realness of his memories disappear. We've hit step one in turning all of this around." Pepper smiled at the two scientists and gave them a big hug.

"This is why I love both of you."

"HEY!"

"Well, I love you only 12% of my full 100%. The other 88% goes to Bruce."

"That was my payback wasn't it?"

"Nope."


	24. Chapter 24: Thoughts that Count

When Phil woke up he was staring at the ceiling of his little cupboard under the stairs and there was a new pullover sweater draped on the edge of the cot. he grabbed it and looked at it in mild surprise. It was obviously homemade since there was no brand tag on it and there was a Captain America shield knitted into it. He pulled it on and slid out of his bed, running out into the house, noting the smell of baking in the kitchen and the sounds of happy celebration from the lab.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Phil asked, inching slowly to the stair case leading down to the lab. "What are they so happy about? And who gave me the sweater?"

"I believe the reason for their happiness is that Doctor Banner has found a cure for your brain tumor," the AI responded. "Congratulations Agent Coulson: I believe that you will soon regain your original form. The sweater was from Ms. Potts. Merry Christmas, Agent."

"Merry Christmas, J.A.R.V.I.S," Phil said, running down the stairs and tackling the radiologist. "Merry Christmas, Bruce!" he shouted and Banner smiled, lifting him up above his head to set him down on the lab table.

"Merry Christmas, Phil," he said, obviously tired. "Hey, you are going to get a very special Christmas gift today. I know we haven't told you everything about yourself right now Phil and - "

"Clint did. I know about everything. Well...mostly everything." Tony and Pepper looked at each other in a way that said that the archer was going to get an earful. Banner smiled and squatted down on the ground in front of Phil.

"Well, you know that you're a little special, right Phil?" Phil nodded and looked down, suddenly bashful. "We're going to fix that for you. What do you think?" Evasively, Phil said softly,

"I had a nightmare last night again." Bruce sighed sadly and put a hand on the little one's shoulders. "I was remembering again...I don't like it!"

"Hey," Bruce said and Phil looked up at him. "I can make the memories stop. I can make the nightmares go away." Phil looked at him in a sort of calculating way. "Do you want me to do that for you?" he asked and with that same calculating look and a brief hesitation he nodded.

"Will it hurt?" Phil asked quietly and Pepper walked over to gently put a hand on his back.

"Come on, Phil. We can talk about this after breakfast," she said and lifted him up off the table to settle on her hip, walking out of the room. "So what do you want to eat?" The look she threw over her shoulder to Tony told him very clearly to wait to bring it up until they were with the others and the time was right.

Tony looked over at Bruce, eyebrow raised.

"Will it?"

"Pardon?" the radiologist asked as he headed for the stairs. Tony hesitated and waved his hand in the air helplessly.

"Hurt," he finally said. "Will it hurt?" Banner sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I - I don't know. I really want to answer you, Tony, I really do, but there is just no way for me to know. Nothing like this has ever been tried in the history of... _ever_. I really want to be able to tell him that it will be painless, he'll never feel anything, but I don't know. I don't _know_." Tony walked over and helped him up the stairs, making sure that his friend didn't fall over from exhaustion.

"Okay, don't wind yourself up about it, Bruce," he said and took his friend to the other flight of stairs to his room. "I'll tell the others about what we've found out and you can just sleep because you honestly need it. When was the last time you slept?"

"Three days ago," he answered. "I've been up at night looking over the scans before you reached your dilemma yesterday."

"That I can connect with and now in this case I"m going to be Pepper and order you to bed, mister," he said and firmly set him friend on his bed before leaving the room to go down to eat breakfast with the others.

"Where is Doctor Banner?" Thor asked as he saw Tony coming downstairs.

"He's sleeping. Don't wake him up, he hasn't slept for the last three days and with good reason," he added, giving Loki a specific look. The god reddened slightly and looked down at his plate of scrambled eggs, gently poking them around with his fork. "So how is everyone?"

"I've had better nights," Steve said simply and Tony nodded, understanding what he was talking about. Clint and Nat shrugged which was their clear way of saying that they slept well. Thor smiled his response, keeping his mouth tactfully closed since it was full of food. Loki again didn't answer.

"Loki, you okay?" Tony asked and the god looked up at him, still keeping quiet.

"Fine."

"Okay well, Bruce figured out how to solve little Coulson's memory problem. We can fix it today once Banner's up and ready." Phil smiled at Tony briefly before going back to eating. "You ready, Phil?" The boy looked up and shrugged.

"I don't know. Will it feel weird?"

"Probably."

"How does it work?"

"You wouldn't understand," Tony conceded after thinking about it for a while.

"How long will it take?"

"No more than five to ten minutes."

"Will all of you be there?"

"Of course," Steve answered before Tony could say anything. "We wouldn't want anymore _accidents_ happening."

"Accidents like what?"

"Like...stuff," Steve answered evasively and Clint chipped in.

"Like the stuff we talked about yesterday."

"Oh that stuff," Phil said and thought about other questions he could ask. "What's the risk factor?"

"Risk factor?" Tony asked, surprised. "Aren't you a little young to be asking about that stuff?" At the unchanged expression before him he continued. "I don't know could be 100% could be 1%."

"And you suggest to perform this...experiment on him?" Thor asked in disbelief. "That is highly irresponsible, Metal Man!"

"Okay then," Phil answered, ignoring the god's outburst or the fact that everyone else was glaring at Tony in agreement, thinking hard. "More or less risk than working with the Tesseract?"

"The Tesseract?!"

"Yeah you know that blue cube thing that we found in the bottom of the ocean? Hydra's secret weapon?"

"How do you know about that?" Natasha asked.

"I remembered yesterday."

"I thought you forgot about everything," she responded.

"I lied."

"Phil, don't lie to us about that stuff. What else do you remember?"

"Each of your guys' past, my childhood, and the Tesseract." They all shared slightly worried looks. "But more or less risk?"

"Um, less. MUCH less. I know for sure this thing won't blow up the planet or be a gateway for creepy space monsters."

"We are not creepy space monsters!" Loki protested and Tony shrugged.

"Suit yourself: you're blue, control ice, have red eyes, and shape shift. Sounds like a creepy space monster to me."

"Boys, knock it off," Pepper admonished. "I don't want to have to go through Christmas with the two of you butting heads and insulting each other. Tony that applies to everyone," she added as she saw him turn to Rogers.

At his seat, Phil smirked.

000000

A few hours later, after the group of them playing Catch Phrase for a while (which Steve was surprisingly good at and Thor and Loki sucked at, dropping out early to simply watch), Bruce woke up and came down stairs, wide awake and ready to get the procedure over with.

"Do we have to do it now?" Phil asked, worried and Banner shook his head. "Okay, can you play a few rounds of this with us?"

Turns out that was not a good idea for the opposite team.

"Okay, what is the opposite of an angel?"

"Devil," Tony replied immediately.

"Past tense of that word?"

"Devil-ed?" Phil asked slowly.

"What to chickens lay?"

"Eggs. Deviled Eggs," the boy answered triumphantly and Banner practically threw the small electronic device into Steve's arms.

"Uh, English government."

"Parliament," Pepper answered quickly and they passed it off to the next person, Clint.

"Dang it. If it's not below it's?"

"Above," Banner answered.

"Beginning of the last round's answer."

"Par. Above par," Tony answered and they threw it at Romanoff who caught it just as it beeped and stuck her tongue out at Barton. "Give us a point, Natalie Rushman," the billionaire said and was promptly knocked on his back by a violently thrown pillow. "WE WIN!" he cheered from the floor.

"That game causes much adrenaline and stress," Loki commented, noting the grins around him. "Is that the purpose?"

"Partially, Loki," Nat responded and stood up. "Well, now that we're all in a good mood, Phil do you want to get it done? It won't take long, and you'll feel a lot better." Phil hesitated and finally nodded.

"Okay."

000000

"Are you ready, Phil?" Banner asked softly, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. The two assassins, the two gods, Steve, and Pepper were seated behind the glass panes that surrounded the work area, and the super soldier was reminded of his transformation with Howard Stark and Doctor Erskine. Phil nodded and slowly walked with Bruce to the chair in the center of the room.

"I'm scared," he said, stopping and pulling back on Banner's arm. Banner stopped and turned to face him.

"We all are. But we need to do this, Phil. It's the only way that we can help you, make you normal again." The boy was still hesitating and the adult continued. "Phil, you will die if we don't." Phil nodded again and allowed Banner to put him in the chair that made him uncomfortably think of a chair in a dentists office. He shifted in the seat as Stark helped strap him in and they lowered the large helmet cap thing over his head, the heavy metal covering down to his waist. Again he shifted, fighting to keep his fear under control.

"Phil, we're going to start now, are you ready?"

"No, but when will i ever be?" he answered and immediately wondered why he would say something like that. Tony smirked briefly and began initiating the sequences. Phil flinched slightly as the radiation and magnetic emissions were emanated from the helmet thing and outside he vaguely heard Banner and Tony giving readings to each other.

"Almost done Phil."

"Wait," he heard Stark say. "Doctor Banner, I'm getting some strange mental readings here."

A sharp pain hit him dead in the center of his head and he immediately tightened his grip on the arms of the chair, a small mew of pain slipping out. He tried to shrink into the chair, to avoid the pain in his head and he tried to force his body to not tremble and sporadically seize up the way it was. Images were flying through his head way too fast. Memories, knowledge, things he shouldn't know came pouring in, sensations all over his body. He wanted it to stop. He didn't want to remember any more. His grip tightened even more. He shouted out and Nat and Clint stood up, moving closer to the glass.

"Phil? Tony, what's going on?" Banner asked and Tony looked up from his scans.

"Apparently this is going to hurt. His brain has to quickly go through everything to recalibrate itself. It's essentially a memory overload."

"Phil, this isn't going to be painless okay? Phil?" Banner said, walking over to the boy as he shouted out in pain and the grip he had on the arm rests increased so that his knuckles were white. "Phil?"

"You're hurting him, stop it, shut it down!" Nat shouted and she began running to the lab door. Steve stood, recognizing what was going on around him: Peggy had said almost the same thing when he was being injected with the super soldier serum, and was reacting the same way she had. As the boy screamed, Thor stood, approaching the glass with his hammer. Loki tried to reach out and grab his brother but he was too late. The god of thunder hit the glass with Mjolnir, cracking it since it wasn't a full force swing, shouting,

"STOP!"

"Thor, NO!" But it was too late, and the Norse god knew what was going to happen next, Loki's heart turning to ice.

Phil's eyes widened at the sound of Thor and the hit on the glass, and his ear piercing scream of absolute pain shattered the air, body falling limp, shuddering sporadically.

_Shall we find out?_

_Move away please._

Tony began throwing switches and pushing buttons, shutting down the mechanism, desperately following his friends' shouted orders for him to do so.

They could all see the blood starting to trickle down his shirt and pooling on the seat.


	25. Chapter 25: Consequences

"Oh my GOD!" Pepper shouted and they all ran into the room, Banner frantically trying to open up the straps and Tony lifted the helmet from the boy's head and upper body to reveal a massive stab wound in his shoulder, alarmingly close to his heart. Phil was shaking, tears sliding down his cheeks, and whimpering in pain, too shocked to cry out.

"Phil," Banner said, accidentally harsh, as he pulled the trembling, whimpering boy off the seat and set him on the floor. "Phil, what happened?"

"Loki...Loki, he - tried to stop..." he whimpered, tears filling his eyes and slowly leaking out of the sides of his eyes. His breathing was erratic and hitching, and there was a clear lucidity to his gaze. "Ow, owowowow...ow!" he sobbed, coughing on his blood and reflexive response to crying. Banner moved to leave his side to go and dig around in his medical kit for anything to help, but Phil's blood stained hand reached out and tried to grab him and hold him close to him. His hand never got high enough though, and Bruce never noticed the silent plea to not be left alone. Pepper was standing there, hand over her mouth, crying and Thor was looking stricken.

"It must have been when Thor banged on the glass," Steve said tightly, pulling off his sweater to put it under the boy's head, trying to ignore the blood spreading across the floor. "It must have triggered the memory."

"Steve?" he whimpered and Steve took his small, bloody hand in his own.

"Tony, we need to bring him to a hospital!" Clint ordered and Tony nodded, going for his phone.

"No, you can't," Banner said, snatching the phone away and they all glared at him. "What are we going to tell them? Kids don't just get stabbed!"

"We have to take him somewhere NOW!" Nat shouted at him from beside Steve at Phil's side, holding his other trembling hand. "He's DYING, Bruce!"

"We can't take him to a hospital. When they ID him, what are they going to think?" They all looked at each other helplessly. "Loki, can you do your healing thing?" Loki tried walking closer to the boy but as soon as he came into the boy's line of vision, the child panicked.

"No. No, don't let him. Don't let him! No! Nat, Nat, don't let him get near me!" he sobbed and he tried to move away, his limbs barely moving, barely listening to the commands of his mind. Loki stopped, stricken, and began backing away, rapidly leaving the room, Phil finally calming when he was gone.

"Loki!" Thor called and Steve motioned for him to go after his brother.

"I'm calling Fury," Tony said tightly, taking his phone back from Bruce and punching in the number. "Steve, I need you and Clint to go grab my sterile towels, i have them in the cabinet over there. Bring them over now!" he said, voice hard.

"Phil?" Nat asked, tears filling her eyes as she leaned over the injured child, placing her hands over the wound. "Phil, please, listen to me - "

"God rabbited," he whispered and the Avengers froze, even Thor on the stair case. There was a different expression in his eyes that immediately vanished to be replaced with the frightened eyes of a child. "Tasha...Tasha, I'm scared...It hurts..."

"Phil, eyes on me!" Nat whispered frantically, turning the boy's head to face her. "Listen to me." The other expression returned, the expression of his adult version.

"I'm clocking out here." Tony stopped talking on the phone and subconsciously began lowering it from his ear. The child returned. "Tasha..." he whimpered, crying out, hand reaching out beside to curl around the rungs of the nearby stool in pain.

"No, no, that's not an option!" she immediately responded, heart tightening as she realized what she was saying, the prewritten script she was following. "Phil, don't - "

"It's okay boss," he whispered again, a more mature adult expression in his eyes once more. "This was never going to work if they didn't have something to..." he took a breath and tried to finish what he was saying. His breath hitched and he stopped moving, a single tear continuing to leak out of his eye.

"Phil?" she whispered and put a hand directly over his mouth, hoping to feel the slightest breath. "Phil?!" Clint and Steve, galvanized by her shout, ran over with the sterile towels and slipped them under his back and over the wound on the top, the soldier tying them to each other so that he could get pressure on the wound.

"Nat. Nat, back off," Clint whispered. "Let Steve deal with this," he whispered and gently pulled her away. Steve bent over, ear hovering above his mouth and looked up.

"He's still alive. He's breathing," he answered, relief evident in his voice. "But he's losing way too much blood. I don't even know if we can replace that much." He hesitated and stood up, determined. "I don't care anymore. S.H.I.E.L.D. won't be able to get here in time." He looked dead at Tony. "Call an ambulance."

"Steve we can't do that!" Pepper protested. "It would cause too much suspicion, Banner's right."

"YOU HAVE A CHILD BLEEDING OUT ON THE FLOOR!" Steve shouted, pointing down at the unconscious child. "Call. An. Ambulance," he repeated, voice softly dangerous. "Call an ambulance, or Phil dies." They all looked at each other and Pepper pulled out her phone.

"Hello? yes we have an emergency. We have a child who was stabbed. Stark's residence. Please hurry, he's dying," she said desperately and hung up, looking on tearfully at the body on the floor as Steve picked him up and carefully went up the stairs with him, everyone following.

The ambulance arrived on scene within fifteen minutes and the paramedics didn't ask any questions. Pepper and Thor decided to stay behind to find and take care of Loki while the others went with them to the hospital. No one seemed to be breathing but the tension levels were nearly intolerable as they paced back and forth in front of the operation room. They were so preoccupied, they didn't notice the subtle S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the hem of the surgeon's uniform, or the one eyed man who watched from the corner of the hallway.

000000

_Beep...Beep...Beep..._

The nurse looked up at the consistently slow heartbeat and felt her eyes prick with tears as she looked down a the still boy, at the pale skin, sunken features, and thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. The breathing rate was almost uneven and the stab wound was stitched up. The blood transfusion went well, though it made her sick that such a small innocent boy could be the victim of such a malicious attack that required so much medical attention.

"May we come in?" a soft voice asked and the woman turned around to see a familiar red head standing there.

"Yes you may. He's sleeping right now," she said and watched as the woman tenderly brushed his hair off of his fevered forehead. "Are you his mother?" Natasha looked up and gave a sad smile.

"No, though at this point and time I may be considered that," she answered softly. "He always took care of me and at the moment when I needed to return the favor, I couldn't do anything to keep him safe." She hunched over in the chair and brought Phil's hand up to her forehead, clasping it between her two calloused ones. Clint slowly came in and walked over to his companion, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Phil knows this wasn't your fault. It was none of our faults," he said softly to her and she shook her head. "Well, it was sort of Stark's in the long run, but this...we could never have fixed this or saw this coming. We were fixing the situation, and it went wrong, there was nothing we could have done." The Russian nodded and looked up as Banner, Steve, and Tony came in, the last one with a stuffed animal bunny in his arms.

"How's he doing?" he asked, walking over to the side of the bed, ignoring the shocked nurse.

"He's under right now, Mr. Stark," the nurse said, regaining her composure.

"Can he hear us?" Steve asked, looking around.

"I don't know. He may, he may not. Would you like to be alone for a moment?" They mutely nodded and she left the room.

"Hey Phil," Tony said softly, sitting on the bed by him. "I'm sorry, buddy. I really am. I thought this was going to be over for you, but you remembered the worst part of your life...I'm just sorry." He put the bunny under the boy's arm, repositioning said arm and the bunny with the utmost care. "Merry Christmas, Phil. I promise next year it will be better than this."

"I hope so..." he whispered and they looked down at Phil in surprise. The boy sleepily opened his eyes and looked around at everyone. "Is it Christmas?"

"Yeah. It's the 25th," Clint said. "How you feeling?" Phil went to shrug and whimpered, immediately falling still.

"My head doesn't hurt anymore."

"Yeah, you're okay now. Your memory won't be doing weird things anymore." Phil nodded, and looked baffled, fingering the tube of oxygen that went up to his face.

"Loki killed me," he said, hesitantly, fearfully. "I died. He killed me, stabbed me. But it...it helped. For me to die, it did something good. I don't know what though. Why did it help?"

"Phil, you deserve to know the truth. You were my mentor," Clint said and nodded to Nat. "And hers as well. You were Tony's handler, Thor's friend. You were the glue that held us all together. And when you died, it was a wake up call for us to unite. And we defeated Loki. Because of you, Phil." Phil looked around at the other people around him and back down at his stab wound.

"Well you never really died," came Fury's voice and every head in the room turned around to face the Director.

"Nick!" Phil whispered, since he couldn't talk much louder than that, reaching out to give his best friend a hug that made even the recipient of the hug tear up a little.

"Hey, Phil, why don't you lie back down. Don't overwork yourself." There was a light tap at the door and they turned around to see a disheveled Pepper and distraught Thor. "What's wrong?"

"We can't find Loki anywhere. We think he may be going to do something...rash," Thor answered and Pepper nodded.

"Loki is leaving?" Phil asked, worried. "I didn't get to say sorry though..."

"Sorry for what, Phil?" Steve asked, looking curiously at him.

"For being scared of him," he said simply. "I don't want Loki to go..." The adults looked at each other and at Phil. Tony clapped his hands and stood up.

"Well then, Pepper can you stay with Phil? We'll go find Reindeer Games and bring him back home." Fury's phone began buzzing and he picked it up off the counter, answering it.

"What do you mean _public display_?!" he snapped. "On the _news_?!" Tony immediately dove for the remote and turned on the news station.

"It has been confirmed by people who lived in Manhattan during the extraterrestrial attack that this is in fact the leader of the army, who goes by the name Loki Odinson. It is as yet unknown why he is here, but we can assume that his intentions are sinister from our last encounter. As we said before that was live from New York and that the US military has been summoned to deal with the situation."

"Damn it," Tony muttered and looked around to the others. "You see what he's doing, right? He's offering himself up on a silver platter right now for the government to kill or take prisoner. He doesn't care anymore because that memory was relived."

"So we go to New York as fast as is physically possible," Steve said and they looked around at each other. "Loki's part of the team now, I think we all know that. So what we do next doesn't need to be verbalized." As the Avengers left the room, Fury followed.

"Whoa, since when was _Loki_ part of the team?" Steve turned to face Fury.

"Since he stepped foot on this planet in those corn fields he's been one of us. Get it together Director," he said and they walked out of the hospital, heading back to Stark Tower for their suit up. In the hospital room, Phil was sitting up, looking out the window.

"Loki isn't a bad person," he said, sighing. "He just made bad choices. I wish i could tell him that I don't care that he killed me. Or tried to. I believe in second chances." Pepper nodded and sat by him on the bed.

"Well, how do you think you're going to do that?" she asked, looking at him mischievously. Phil shrugged with only his right shoulder.

"I could go after him. But I'm stuck in a hospital with a really bad wound." Pepper shook her head and smiled.

"You're only as stuck as you want to be, Phil. The only real reason you're in here is not because of blood loss. It's because of the wound that is stitched up right there. If we can get you out of here, and travel with some S.H.I.E.L.D. nurses, we can get you to New York, and you can get Loki." Phil tilted his head and looked at her.

"You're acting weird. You're mischievous," he said slowly. "Pepper never acts that way..." Pepper looked at him and shrugged.

"Well, you haven't been around me long enough apparently. I have a mischievous side."

"You have a sense of humor, you don't have a mischievous side. And you would never help me leave the hospital when I need to be here." As he was talking, Phil slowly moved his hand towards the patient remote control thing, finger moving to press on the nurse button.

"Is there something wrong here?" the nurse asked and Phil looked over at her as Pepper looked down at his hand, noting what he had done.

"Can you make her leave?" Phil asked, scared. "Please? She isn't who she says she is." Pepper sighed and stood up, making her way to the door.

"I'm sorry, he's just a bit out of sorts. I'm one of the people he lives with. I'm sure it's okay if I stay," Pepper said kindly and the nurse, looking past her to the cowering boy shook her head.

"I'm sorry. If the patient wants you gone, you need to leave. Have a nice day," the nurse said with finality, pointing out the door. In the hallway, Fury edged closer to the door, hand going to his weapon.

"I'm sorry, but there is no need for me to leave."

"Ma'am, you must - " Fury drew back as there was a heavy thud and he saw the hand of the nurse fall outside the threshold before being rapidly drawn back into the room and the door closed.

Phil's eyes widened as the Pepper he knew wasn't Pepper slowly morphed into a Chitauri and he shrank into his bed.

"NICK!" he shouted and there was a sudden slam as the door was thrown open and Nick Fury walked in, gun drawn and aimed at the Chitauri before him. Slowly it morphed back into Pepper.

"Come on. Shoot me when i look like this, I dare you." Fury scoffed and shook his head.

"You're asking the wrong guy to act off morals." There was a silencer on the weapon, so it didn't make a loud noise when it was fired. "Phil, are you okay?" he asked, walking over. The child nodded and looked on in confusion as Fury took out the IVs and pulled out a sling for his arm.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you a Chitauri too?"

"Phil, ask me anything you want from our childhood together. Anything."

"Who called the police?" he asked, refusing to elaborate further.

"I did. And I'm still sorry I never called sooner," he answered softly and put the sling on the boy's arm, alleviating pressure on the wound and helped him off the bed.

"First song you taught me on the piano?" Phil asked as they were walking down the hall, him still in his white hospital gown.

"Theme song from a movie," Fury answered, taking Phil down towards the stairs, trying to avoid suspicion.

"Which of us almost drowned?"

"I did because I was an idiot and didn't like to listen to people in authority," Fury responded, half-distracted.

"Why are we leaving?" Phil asked as they headed for the S.H.I.E.L.D. car that Hill was driving.

"Because the Chitauri came for you. That means they want to use you as leverage against Loki, so I'm getting you out."

"Where are we going?"

"New York. Wherever the Avengers are is the safest place you can be."

"But isn't that where all the fighting will be?"

"Yep."

"Doesn't that mean it will be more dangerous?"

"Yeah, that the flip side of the coin. They'll be able to protect you but you need to stay out of their way," Fury said and Phil nodded, getting into the back seat.

"How are you Phil?" Maria asked gently, turning around to face him momentarily. "Oh my god."

"Hill, focus," Fury said tensely. "Where there's one Chitauri, there's probably more."

"Yes sir," she said in agreement and stepped on the gas, taking them to a quinjet landed just off in the woods.

"You land planes in the forests?" Phil asked skeptically.

"Well, we have private landing pads in some forests. And they come in handy a lot, like right now. You coming, Hill?"

"Always, sir," she answered and got out of the car, helping Phil out of the back. "Come on, Phil. We're going back in the quinjet."

000000

"What happened here?" Tony asked as he came into his room. Everything was strewn around and there were fragments of broken glass. As he walked around the bed, he froze and simultaneously lurched forward, which resulted in him half falling forward to something on the ground. "PEPPER!" he shouted and there was a loud clatter of noise as everyone ran upstairs.

"Tony, what's..."

"Pepper, can you hear me? Are you okay?" they heard Tony frantically asking and stopped as they saw the trashed room. "Pepper!" The others were all in their outfits and stopped as they saw Tony hunched over a dazed Pepper.

"I - I think so."

"What are you doing here? How'd you get back so fast?" Tony asked, confused. "What happened."

"Get back? I haven't left. Something came up behind me and - "

"You haven't been to the hospital yet?" Steve asked, serious.

"No, I - I was looking for Loki when something came up behind me and attacked me. It was so strange looking I - "

"J.A.R.V.I.S. what attacked Pepper?" Tony asked, helping her up and putting her arm around his shoulders to help her get to the bed.

"I believe it was a Chitauri, sir." Thor growled and swung Mjolnir.

"Then who was the Pepper at the...oh no," Banner said and began running back downstairs.

"Wait, Bruce, what's going on?!"

"Chitauri are shape shifters! We left PHIL with the Chitauri!" he shouted before running out the door, right into a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

"Doctor Banner, Fury wanted me to tell you that Phil is safe with him and Agent Hill and that the Chitauri was neutralized." Banner took deep breaths to regain his temper.

"Define neutralized," he growled, looking at the scared agent.

"A, uh, bullet through the head, I believe, sir," he stammered and Bruce nodded.

"We have an injured woman here, take care of her. TONY GET SUITED UP, LET'S GO!" he called and walked back inside the house as Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye joined him, Iron Man dropping down to them moments later.

"Let's go. Banner, you'll take me. Thor, you take Barton. Tony, you take Romanoff" the captain said and Banner took a deep breath, letting his control drop and grew into the Hulk, grabbing Steve in his grip and jumping off into the distance, Thor leaping up into the air with Barton and Tony shooting up into the air and taking off with Romanoff.

From the quinjet window, Phil waved at them, but they didn't notice, too fixated on the task ahead of them.


	26. Chapter 26: Just A Training Exercise

"We're getting there as fast as we can, Cyclops. In fact, I'm pretty sure we passed you up a long while back," Stark said angrily from within the Iron Man suit.

"Well then get there faster, Stark. Get your AI to channel the news feed in for you so you see what the fuss is," Fury ordered, voice loud and clear in the man's ear, despite the roaring wind outside. Stark rolled his eyes and spoke to J.A.R.V.I.S.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. what's the news telling the world now?"

"This is CNN, sir," the AI reported before the image was broadcasted on a small portion of the inside of his helmet.

"After threatening the safety of not only New York city, but the entire nation, and eventually the world, it is no surprise that the government is treating this with the most caution. All around the city, already trying to fully recover from the events of Hurricane Sandy and the attack earlier this year, citizens are clamoring for military support and can't help but wonder where are the Avengers now? And how long has Loki been on Earth before we knew about it? People are beginning to ask questions of the god's vulnerability at this time, and some, though a select few, are asking if he is any threat at all. He appears to be carrying no weapons, and is dressed in civilian clothing. Our helicopters have passed by him without so much as a glance from the man, giving more support to the idea that he won't be causing any harm. But how can we be sure? We have just received word that the military is on its way to try and apprehend the war criminal."

"Damn it," Tony hissed and turned on the signal to the other earpieces that the Avengers were wearing. "Guys, army's heading over. Thor, will Loki do anything rash?" In response, the hammer wielding man increased his speed and the others did the same. "How long, J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"At this present speed, three hours."

"Any way to make that drastically less?"

"I'm afraid not sir."

"Never is," Tony muttered.

000000

"What's happening?" Phil asked sleepily from his makeshift bed on the seats in the back of the quinjet. Hill walked over to sit by him and gently put a hand on his forehead to habitually check for a fever. Not that there would be one, but suddenly taking him out of the hospital would make him prone to certain illnesses.

"Don't worry about it, Phil. How's your chest doing?" she asked and Phil sighed, wincing as he did so.

"It still hurts. That story you told me?" Hill looked at him in bafflement. "When I was first at Stark's tower?"

"Yes?"

"That was true, wasn't it? Just with changed names..." he yawned and pulled the blanket higher over himself. Hill nodded.

"Yeah it was. Sorry Phil, I should have told you but I just wasn't sure it was the right time." Phil shrugged, again wincing.

"I know about everything now, so I'm okay," he muttered and soon was asleep. Hill looked down in surprise and walked over to Fury who was flying - somehow - with one eye.

"Isn't your d - "

"My depth perception is fine, thank you," he answered, slightly miffed at her doubt.

"You almost hit that bird a while back - "

"That bird," Fury said, enunciating clearly, "was in my way. I wanted to get rid of it, I did not almost hit it."

"Yes sir," she said obediently, smirking. "I have a question about Phil. Is it normal for him to fall asleep at a time like this? I thought he would be too excited to fall asleep."

"Well, if you haven't noticed," Fury responded, a bit acerbically, "He has just been stabbed. The painkillers that the hospital gave him are bound to cut through adrenaline at some point. Imagine, getting stabbed by a man he knows to be his friend. He may claim that he forgives him and wants to make peace with Loki, but he's a mere child. I am guaranteeing that the sight of him in person is going to be a little much for him. I don't know if the adult in him will want to reconcile so easily."

"What about the child in him?" Hill asked, looking over her shoulder to the sleeping toddler. Fury followed her gaze and nodded.

"That's what I'm counting on. Phil's reconciliation is the only thing that might bring Loki down from the Empire State before a military missile or machine gun does."

In his sleep, strange dreams again filled the mind of Phil Coulson. They were fantastic dreams of fights beside Fury and other men and women dressed in black uniforms. The adventures of the mind of a little boy. And there was always a sense of pride in him as he saw the team fighting. His team. His highly unstable, combustable mixture of misfits who created the best team in the world. But the dream immediately turned dark. Voices shouted at him. And one predominantly. Before he could do anything, his father's hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder, wrenching him to face him. Phil screamed and lashed out, kicking. He looked over his shoulder to the men and women dressed in black, but one by one, they vaporized into inky fogs, Fury as well. He looked over to the Avengers, but they were vanishing into the same black fog that the others had. Thor tried to raise his hammer to help but he winked out of existence. Banner grew into the Hulk and started running forward, disintegrating rapidly into nothingness. Tony vanished as he raised a repulsor armed hand to blast the offending adult off of Phil. Steve ran forward and was almost to him when he vanished. He watched in tearful fear as Clint and Nat reached out to him, scared expressions on their faces and faded away like the others.

He was alone. Just as he had been. Then, everything grew cold. Colder than it already had been and his father threw him down on the ground, watching him contemptuously. Phil stood up and glared at his father, about to run forward to avenge what had been done to him and his mother as a child when that same blinding pain erupted in his back and chest and Loki walked past him, cold and heartless. Thanos was behind him as were the rest of the Chitauri. All of the dark forces in his life stood before him and stared down at him in contempt as he bled out on the floor, allowing the terror to infuse him. the bitter tears came, and he curled up in a small ball. He didn't want them to hurt him any more. Not anymore.

"Shh, child," a soft voice said and he looked up to see a kind looking woman standing at the edge of his vision, a white light seeming to shine out from her. She was clad in gold and white, and she had the air of an angel to her. "They will not haunt you for long, or forever."

"Who are you?" he whimpered and as the woman drew closer, he could feel a warmth flood back into him and his wound faded. She smiled and knelt down before him, her bright white light making the other people fade away, melting it seemed. Only one did not melt: Loki.

"I am Frigga, child. And this is a dream, but I am reality." Phil looked at her, baffled. "My sons are too distant in so many ways for me to contact them at this moment. I want you to tell them that I am fine. I have been healed. Phil, you are a special young boy, and a special man. You already know that, though," she smiled and hugged the confused child close: he had never had dreams this intense before. "You have healed my son Loki's heart. He needs you more than he himself realizes. He is only afraid of harm that he can do to those he loves and cares for." Phil looked at her, with no emotion. "What is it?"

"This isn't real," he answered. "But it feels real. What is this?"

"I am Frigga, an Asgardian. I am the mother of Thor and Loki. You must take care of Loki, do you understand?" she asked, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes with her own gray ones. "Please." Phil nodded and she nodded once to him. "The Fates have spoken after all. And you and my son are more involved with each others destinies than any of us can comprehend." She stood and walked by the image of her son, who was staring down at Phil with an almost impassive expression. But there was a twinkle of care in his eyes. Something more -

"Phil? PHIL!" Phil opened his eyes to look up at Hill's worried face. "Are you okay? You were muttering in your sleep and tossing and turning. Are you okay?" she repeated and Phil nodded, sitting up and then standing.

"Ow!"

"How's your..." Phil looked down at his injurty, noting that some blood was starting to show through the bandage. "May I look?" He nodded and she gently pulled down the bandages and her eyes widened. "Director! The stab wound is almost healed!" she nearly shouted, shocked. Fury twisted around in his seat and Hill lead the boy over to the man to show him. "Half way sealed and that's pretty good for what it was originally."

"Take over for me." She nodded and they swapped positions, Fury leading Phil away. "Phil, has anything happened? Anything out of the ordinary?" He shook his head. "Okay, it's just that this...this is very unusual."

"Frigga," he whispered, looking away in realization.

"What?" Fury asked sharply and Phil shook his head.

"Nothing..."

"Well, I guess we can give you a simple sling now. You shouldn't need this big thing anymore." Phil sighed in relief, much happier with the simple canvas one Fury helped him put on. "Are you ready to do this, Phil?" The boy shrugged.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Roughly three hours. It's the sedatives the hospital gave you though, so don't worry about it if you're sleepy throughout the day."

"How close are we to New York?" he asked, standing and walking towards the cockpit. "Never mind."

"We managed to coax a little more speed out of her," Fury said, a little smug. Stark Tower loomed in the distance and the quinjet was approaching the Empire State building.

"Where're the Avengers?" Phil asked, trying to see over the consoles.

"Looks like they're already dealing with the military. Bring us closer into Loki's position."

000000

"The Avengers, who were apparently on the other side of the country, have arrived. However, they seem to be _supporting_ the war criminal Loki instead of taking him under custody or handing him over to S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization they work for or defeating him yet again. We are trying to attain more information - "

"Acting as though he isn't a threat. Have they forgotten what they did to stop him before? This is - "

"Making a stand _against_ the military. The Avengers now seem little more than mercenaries - "

Pepper shut off the TV, and sat numbly on her bed. It was happening. The public was turning. She picked up her phone and called Fury.

"Ms. Pott's now isn't - "

"I need to make a statement."

"What?!" Fury said, shocked. "Now listen, now isn't the moment for this - "

"If the people understood what was going on - "

"Pepper, listen to me. If the people knew that Loki has been here for close to a month and a half, they will flip out."

"I know," she said seriously. "But they may realize that Loki is in no position for wreaking havoc. He is here with asylum, and he's actually helped more than hurt!"

"Pepper - "

"I have faith in people," she said stubbornly.

"Pepper, a person is smart. People are stupid," Fury said, ending the conversation. "Tony is taking care of the military right now while Rogers is trying to talk Loki down. Doesn't look like it's going to happen though. We're going to go in, I need to hang up." Pepper nodded and ignored the long tone that indicated the director had hung up. Wearily she turned back on the TV and was immediately punching in Tony's number.

"Hello Pepp - " he began sounding way too innocent.

"TONY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"THEY ANNOYED ME!"

000000

Loki looked up as he heard the now familiar sound of Stark's suit approaching and the roar of Banner.

"Stay away from me," Loki shouted, standing.

"Loki, you need to get down from there. The government is sending in planes and the military to take you into custody, and I promise you that isn't going to be good for you!" the billionaire shouted back, coming to a stop mid air. Loki shook his head.

"I'm a danger. I try to get better, but all I do is hurt the people around me." Tony shook his head and dove at Loki, snatching him off the top of the building, dropping him off on the top of Stark Tower where the rest of the Avengers were waiting.

"Brother!" Thor said, walking forward, only to stop as the ground around the Frost Giant turned to ice and his skin turned blue, eyes red. That desperation was back in his expression, the same one that had been there at Odin's confession.

"Stay away from me. I can kill you all. I don't need magic to do it. I'll freeze every molecule of water in your bodies!" he threatened. But they could see he didn't mean it.

"Loki, listen, if the people get a hold of you they will rip you apart. You aren't exactly loved around here," Steve tried to say, stepping forward but Loki rounded on him.

"You think I don't know that?! I thought I was getting better, that I could actually end up helping an innocent person who I had wronged before be better. I was incorrect," he added bitterly, looking away. Awkwardly the group stood at a standoff, Loki in the center of their circle.

000000

"The Avengers have moved Loki onto Star Tower and seem to be talking with him. We assume they are trying to come to an arrangement with the man, opting for peaceful relations instead of violence, but people are more worried about Loki since he has apparently changed appearance into something much more frightening - " Fury turned off the news channel.

"How long Hill?"

"Ten minutes."

"Make it less," he ordered and walked back over to Phil, helping the boy adjust his sling. "You ready to do this?" Wordlessly, Phil nodded.

000000

"Loki," Romanoff said without making any move to him. "You were hurt by Phil remembering, by him going through what you did to him again, and this time as a kid. Don't deny it. I know that's what's bothering you."

"Brother, the boy is alive yet. He was severely injured, and the nurses say -"

"Exactly. How long will he stay that way?" Loki interjected angrily, interrupting Thor.

"He will remain alive, Loki. You have to trust us. Let's go inside, right now - " the spy answered slowly, reaching out to put an arm on his, to lead him away. Loki snarled, lashing out instinctively and Romanoff went flying hitting her head on the side of the generator that Stark had up there, knocked out cold.

"NAT!" Clint shouted and Loki froze as he realized what he had done, looking down at his hands in horror and slowly sinking to his knees. Everyone was stunned at what just happened.

"I - I didn't mean - believe me, I wasn't trying to...I'm sorry - "

"Easy, Loki. We know it wasn't on purpose. She okay, Clint?" Clint looked up from his friend's side and nodded. "See Loki? She's fine." In fact, soon Romanoff was glaring at the slightly blurred image of Loki somewhere in front of her.

"Nice hit, god," she growled. "Do that again, I'll have you know that I can kill you with my pinky. Want me to show you?" she snarled and he shook his head, backing away.

"Romanoff. Ease off," Iron Man ordered and she reluctantly stopped glaring, standing painfully. At that moment, there was a roaring noise of machinery and two helicopters rose up on either side of the tower.

"Avengers, the United States Military will now take the war criminal Loki into its own custody," a voice said over a PA and they all viewed the weapons aimed at them. "We have a special holding facility for him. He won't be a bother to anyone again." They glared silently. "If you resist, we'll have to use force."

"Easy Thor," Steve warned. "Go and take care of scrambling anyone who's flying in. Make flight safety too dangerous, but don't kill. Clint, Nat, I want you to take care of the perimeter of the Tower. Bring the Hulk with you, he can be a good item of persuasion. I don't want fighting unless its absolutely necessary. Tony, take care of the military, I'll get Loki to come down inside." They all nodded and Thor shot off into the air, the Hulk dropped to the street to screams and shouts with Barton and Romanoff clinging onto him for dear life on the way down.

"Listen, there has been a misunderstanding with Loki," Tony began, rising up into the air so he was above the aircraft. He didn't like being talked down to. "He isn't here to destroy anything or anyone. He's here for peaceful intentions - " At that moment, the air was shattered with a violent explosion that destroyed the roof top, sending Rogers and Loki falling through the roof onto the top floor inside the building, the super soldier knocked out. Loki crawled out from a pile of debris and sat shivering in a corner. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to feel, what to think.

He was lost.

000000

"You expect us to believe that?" a man in the crowd shouted. "I saw him! He had a kid with him, what happened to that little boy?" Clint turned around to look at the man who had chased Loki and Phil about a month ago when this situation had first started. "He duplicated himself, threatened to kill us if we didn't beat it. He's still dangerous!"

"Listen, you scared him - " Clint answered and the speaker shook his head.

"No I didn't. He's a menace. And what happened to that little boy, huh? Phil did he call him?" The archer looked down, refusing to answer.

"He has had an incident," the Russian finally said softly. "Loki is very unstable at the moment which is why he's revealed himself hoping for detainment by the military. Some mental trauma that runs along the lines of: I have injured everyone that I love that I care for, and I won't do it any more."

"That ain't accept - " someone shouted and the crowd started forward, freezing a second later.

"YOU DON'T TAKE LOKI," the Hulk shouted, surprising everyone, even his team members. "NEVER!"

"You traitors!" a woman somewhere yelled. "He killed my little girl in that attack! I WANT JUSTICE!" She came running forward and Romanoff rolled her eyes and punched, stepping over the unconscious form on the ground moments later.

"Morons," Nat muttered and continued in a louder voice. "Well, get your doubtful justice some other day."

000000

"I JUST FIXED THIS THING!" Tony shouted at the helicopter pilots and prepped himself, J.A.R.V.I.S. scanning for weak points in the craft. He smirked and turned to pinpoint Loki below him. "Stay HERE this time? PLEASE?" Tony called before tackling the two helicopters, plunging his fist deep into the front of it, ripping out large portions of the controls. "Don't take Loki, you understand?!" he shouted at the terrified pilots as the propellors began slowing and they fell to the ground in bursts of control and free falling. "I can see why you wanted to destroy things when you were angry Rock of Ages. It's therapeutic," Stark commented before flying off to deter the fighter jets approaching.

000000

"The Avengers have turned against the public, supporting the criminal Loki. We have trusted these people with our lives and though they say Loki is here on asylum and trying to forcefully take someone from a guaranteed asylum warrants an attack back, we can't help but feel that our only protection is now our greatest enemy."

"Sir, the Council is online," Hill said and Fury glared at her. "Yes sir," she responded, knowing exactly what that expression meant. "Council, Director Fury does not want to waste valuable oxygen on planet earth dealing with annoying, pompous moronic paper pushers like yourselves. Thank you, and have a nice day," she said in the sugary sweet tones that flight attendants on those safety videos used. The ones where they're telling you the fifty ways you can die with a smile plastered on their face. She dropped the voice and cut the channel, turning to Fury. "Situation solved, sir."

"Thank you. Okay, so Phil, remember, if you don't want to do this, we can pull you out. Loki is unstable right now, we don't know what that could mean for him or for you."

"I know."

"Okay, bring us in. And try to avoid Stark he just destroyed two helicopters. He's not in the best of moods."

000000

"STAND BACK IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE!" Romanoff shouted and people were literally falling over themselves to get away from the Tower. Police included. "Thank you. Now I will have you understand that the world as you know it right now, you owe to us. You owe to him, and that guy who flew off, Stark, and this big guy right here." The Hulk snarled. "You trusted us then, trust us again now. Loki has done nothing but help since he got back here. He saved that boy's life. Several times so far. He laughs, he smiles...he's a normal person. And the reason he's here is that..." here she trailed off, unsure if she should continue.

"Loki has been chased by the people who pushed him to attack Earth. He's seeking safety. His home, his mother...most of what he holds dear to himself have been damaged in some way by this man named Thanos," Clint continued. "Why can't you let the man be?!" Slowly people looked around at each other. "Fine. Let me put it this way: either you all go home, or nice little Banner here will smash your faces into the concrete. Permanently."

000000

"Tony, civilians are gone," Clint said triumphantly into his ear piece and Stark looked down in delight.

"Fantastic! So's the military...you know they were all pretty stupid. Now, about Loki - "

"Stop. Stop right there Stark," a dangerous voice said and Tony turned in the air to look down at Loki. Gone was the man that they had grown to know and instead there was the military leader, the vengeance and power crazed maniac. "I will kill you. Just as I killed so many others." He laughed and walked up to the edge of the building. "You know, I can jump off and I won't heal. I'll die...like an insect on a windshield."

"Loki - " Tony began, landing on the rubble.

"I SAID STOP!" Loki shouted and Tony watched in horror as his suit was encased completely in ice.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. break the ice layer," Tony said and his AI answered slightly reluctantly,

"I'm afraid the ice layer is too hard and too thick." Loki sneered at the immobile Iron Man and turned around sharply as he heard another plane behind him. This time though, it wasn't the military.

"Loki!" Fury shouted from the open back. Something shifted in Loki's eyes and Rogers slowly sat up, rubbing his head where he had hit it.

"I WILL TURN EVERY LIVING THING ON THAT CRAFT TO ICE!" Loki shouted and Fury shook his head, shouting over the engines

"Might not want to do that! I have someone here who wanted to say goodbye if you were leaving! Seems he wanted to say sorry and that he'll miss you!" Loki slowly lowered his hand at the small form who walked forward, still dressed in the white hospital gown with his arm in a sling.

"Loki!" Phil shouted and the quinjet slowly pulled closer. But the boy stopped, noting something sinister in the man before him. Something wild and cruel. Something that he remembered from what seemed like a lifetime ago in the cold confines of the detention area. "Loki?" Now, he began to hesitate. This man had tried to kill him. This man had tried to take everything that he held dear from him.

But that was old Loki. this is new Loki, he protested softly to himself.

Was it?

When the loading ramp was close enough, Phil walked out of the plane and slowly stepped onto the metal platform to gingerly advance into the jagged rubble of the roof of Stark Tower.

"Loki?" he asked again and the adult defeatedly fell to his knees on the ground: he could hurt people without a second thought. But not Phil.

"Stay away from me, Phil. I'll hurt you. I don't want to. But I'll end up hurting you just like I hurt my mother. I'm sorry, Phil. But I'm not the man you think of me as."

"I don't care," he said, stopping in front of Loki and looking down at his feet. "I know what you did to me and I was...I was scared of you. But I'm not any more. I forgive you Loki," he said and looked seriously at the god. "Do you forgive you?" Loki looked at the boy before him and raised his hands so that they hovered above his small shoulders for a few seconds before Phil threw himself into Loki in a hug tackle. "I don't care about what you did Loki. I only care about what you do." Inexplicably tears filled Loki's eyes and he rested his head on the boy's shoulder. There was a loud sniff behind them and Phil giggled.

"Iron Man's crying!" he taunted and the response was immediate.

"I am not! It's, uh, it's onions!"

"There are no onions, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist," Steve called from the floor below and with a huge effort Tony twisted his body so that the ice shattered.

"It's a psychological problem I have - "

"Admit it Tony, you were moved," the super soldier said sternly and Loki laughed softly with Phil's giggling and held the child closer to him. Fury nodded to himself from the quinjet and made a gesture for them to depart.

"They've got Loki back under control. Time for us to clean up this mess."

"Now we can't blame it on a training exercise," Hill remarked and Fury grew thoughtful.

"You know, maybe we can."

000000

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has come forward and claimed that the whole incident with Loki yesterday was actually a training exercise for the morality of the Avengers. They claim that the group failed the test and therefore will be going through extensive training within the tower. They are paying for damages done to the army and to the city in this event and that Loki was in fact never here. The footage that shows a blue man at one point gives us the idea that this was actually one of the X-men, which S.H.I.E.L.D. confirmed for us - "

Steve turned the TV off and looked up from where he was laying on the couch, holding a fragment of Loki's ice to his bruised and swelling cheek.

"They _bought_ that?!"


	27. Chapter 27: Schoolyard Bullies and Sarah

**SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I got hit by a bad bout of school and then the flu...i have been incapacitated. Now: Phil vs. school yard bullies.**

"People are stupid," Nat remarked from where she was animating yet another Twilight book with Clint.

"Yeah, but...Tony came up with that story when he was drunk!" Rogers protested. Thor shrugged as he walked by.

"I thought it was believable."

"You would, brother. I told you there was a dragon in the kitchen when we were children and you sprinted off to go get your friends and slay it," Loki laughed from where he was making a puzzle with Phil. The boy began laughing along and set the puzzle piece in his hand back on the table. He looked around himself at the people about him: Tony and Banner could be seen arguing through the glass porthole in the lab door, Tasha and Clint were sniggering and doodling in a book, Thor was poking curiously at the gas stove (with Pepper immediately trying to distract him with something else, which unfortunately turned out to be the toaster), Steve was lounging on the sofa, and Loki was next to him making a puzzle. Like each of those tiny little pieces, each of them fell into place into a bigger picture. The picture of a family.

And Phil smiled once more before placing ten of the tiny cardboard fragments into place, completing the picture, laughing at Loki's shocked expression.

Yep, this was a family.

000000

It had been a roughly a week and a half since the incident with Loki on Stark Tower, and the group of adults had decided to stay in the tall infrastructure. Phil had told Thor and Loki the news about their mother which ended with bruised ribs all around due to Thor's super strong bear hugs. However, as the days progressed, it wasn't long until they realized that Phil was getting bored. REALLY bored. Bored to the point at which he was caught drawing schematics for some sort of Da Vinci flying contraption he could build to leap off the tower. Stark ended up banning him from the lab for that, but they soon found that it was best he was in the labs rather than the ventilation systems and repealed that prohibition.

"You know what? I think it's time that Phil went to school," Steve commented one night as he and the rest of the Avengers yawned and blinked in disbelief through their Bad Movie Night selection: Birdemic. Thor had fallen asleep and Loki had left ten minutes in, complaining of a migraine. The rest of the humans wore expressions of worried disgust, and a change in focus was welcome.

"Really?" Tony asked absentmindedly as he marveled at the absolute dreadfulness of this movie. "Can someone tell me who gave this director the go ahead? This is absolutely trash!"

"Tony, turn this off. I've lost enough brain cells already," Clint grimaced and snatched up the remote, turning off the abomination and facing the others. "You know what, I think that is a splendid idea," he answered in a tone that clearly said he was pursuing the changed subject. "Is that school he was originally going to attend open still?"

"Oh, yeah," Pepper answered, seeing that no one else was. "We've still got his school supplies, we can send him over. He's smart enough he can catch up easily."

"Okay, that's settled. Someone want to go and tell him?" Steve asked and everyone was pushing off each other to get to the boy's bedroom. Anything to be away from that TV. "Um, maybe one of us should go in and talk to him. All of us standing there might be a little awkward for him," the super soldier continued and they all looked at each other. "Clint, thanks for volunteering. We'll just wait out here for a minute." With that the archer was pushed into the boy's bedroom. Before he gently shook away the child he could hear Tony gagging from outside.

"_Birdemic!_ Who's crappy idea was that?!"

000000

The next day Phil was standing next to Pepper outside a brick building that had swarms of kids moving in and out of. Everyone was carrying backpacks and lunch boxes, and everyone seemed so much bigger than he was. And they all looked so normal. Phil looked up at the kind woman beside him and sighed.

"I don't want to go..."

"Why not?" Pepper asked, squatting down next to him. "Look, they're all kids your age! It's good for you to socialize with people like you!"

"But no one here is like me," he protested softly and looked down as though embarrassed or ashamed. Pepper stopped and realized that the rejuvenated agent was afraid of being a bigger misfit than he already was. She sighed and pulled him into a hug.

"You'll do fine Phil. Answer questions in class, be good, and just be yourself! You'll be surprised...people will like you, trust me," she pulled away and smiled at him. "Now go on and have an adventure!" she encouraged and Phil gave a small sad smile before walking into the mass of people to the small Room 101. Immediately he was hit by the smell of vomit, that medicinal cleanliness, and the stench of new plastic. And the screams, shouts, and pitter-patter of tiny feet in oversized sneakers of annoying little children who were so much less mature than he was.

_Oh, first grade. How I hated thee,_ he thought bitterly to himself and made his way to the desk with the name PHIL COULSON taped to the front. Here went nothing.

000000

"But how does it work?" Thor asked and both Clint and Loki sighed in exasperation, leaving Thor to his own devices in deciphering the way a toaster worked. They had been at it for hours, and the god still thought the machine channelled energy to create the Pop Tarts he so loved to eat.

"You're on your own now Thor," Nat commented as she came into the room. "Good news guys: Stark and Banner are making some headway in finding out what they did wrong with the machine they stuck Phil in. They think in a month and a half they'll be done." Smiles broke out around the room though they were slightly sad...

"I dunno...I kinda liked our little kid," Clint commented. "I'll miss the little twerp."

"But we'll get Coulson back," Steve commented. "As cute as little Phil is, I don't think that's going to work out so well for the good of the country in the long run. He's a bad ass agent."

"WHOA MOMENT FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS!" Tony shouted, suddenly in their midst as the lab door swung shut. "CAPSICLE SWORE! AMERICA'S GOLDEN BOY SAID BAD ASS!"

"Get a grip Tony, you're not five years old!" Steve complained, heading towards his room. Suddenly an old phone ringtone broke the jovial atmosphere and Pepper looked up, baffled.

"Who uses that ring tone? I didn't think anyone used it anymore," she commented innocently and Steve threw her a look.

"Thank you, Ms. Potts," he responded, slightly peeved, as he answered his cell phone. "Mr. Rogers here. Yes, I am..._What_? Yeah, I heard you the first time...I am so sorry. Is he okay? Alright, I'll get there as soon as possible. Sorry for the trouble, ma'am. Goodbye."

By this point, everyone in the room was looking at the surprised and baffled super soldier.

"What's up?" Banner asked, washing his hands in the kitchen as he prepared to help Pepper with the cooking.

"Phil got in a fight in school and broke another student's collar bone," he said in disbelief as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the elevator. Loki's eyes widened in surprise: he hadn't known the boy was capable of that sort of damage.

"What?!" Pepper asked, shocked but Nat humphed in response.

"Kid probably deserved it," she responded, but Steve ignored her, entering the lift and heading for the base floor. This had better be good, he thought to himself as he hailed a taxi and got in, giving instructions for the elementary school.

000000

Phil lifted his eyes without moving his head to make eye contact with the principle walking towards him. The office smelled funny too. It was too clean. It smelled like...like a hospital room. It made his stomach sick. The school nurse handed him another ice pack to keep the swelling down on his cheek and gently patted him on the back.

"It's alright little one," she reassured him before moving onto the other boys. Phil could feel their glares boring into him like lasers all over his body and turned them a cold shoulder. Served them right for picking on Sarah. It wasn't nice. He had warned them, he reassured himself. He'd told them he'd hurt them back if they didn't go away. They hadn't listened, and now they had paid the price.

"Philip Coulson, please come in," the principle said and Phil stood up, walking into the cold room to sit dejectedly on a chair. The others were going to be so disappointed in him -

"I've called your guardian Mr. Rogers. He's coming to pick you up and I'm going to tell him how naughty you've been," the tall woman warned and Phil shrank in his seat. Not Steve. He didn't want it to be Steve. Why couldn't it have been Tony? Tony wouldn't have cared. How about Nat? She would have just asked_ how hard did you hit him? Oh, well next time hit him harder. _

But no. It had to be Captain Steve Rogers.

000000

When Steve entered the office, he immediately saw a small first grader with long blond hair split into two pigtails sitting in a waiting chair,crying, as she was comforted by the secretary. There was dirt on her neat prim dress, a tear mark in her stocking, and one of her pigtails was askew as though someone had pulled on it. A closer examination as he walked by showed him that there was evidence of fresh food stains on the front of her dress as well. In a separate room, there were three probably fourth grade boys holding tissues to their bloody noses, ice packs to their black eyes and bruising features, and one boy was wearing a sling for a fractured collar bone.

"Ah, Mr. Rogers, please come in," a voice said from a little further down the room and a tall African woman beckoned him over.

"You must be Mrs. Mitchell," he said, holding a hand out to her. She smiled tightly, nodded and gestured for him to take a seat beside Phil. He noted with a momentary feeling of worry that the boy was covered with more bruises than the other boys and then remembered why he was here and grew serious again.

"Yes I am. I understand you are Phil's guardian?"

"One of his guardians, he lives with six of us." She gave him a confused look, "Yes," Rogers answered simply and looked down at Phil. "May I know what happened?"

"Well, it was group recess - all of the grades have recess at the same time - and teachers noticed a fight in the back of the playground. Your boy here was beating the living Jesus out of some of our fourth graders - "

"Fourth graders. This boy is usually a very docile, sweet child. I'm sure Phil would have a good reason for taking on four fourth graders," he said pointedly and Phil opened his mouth to respond only to be cut off by Mrs. Mitchell.

"There was no provocation. He just swung out at them under the slide and tried to batter them pulp. We do not accept that type of behavior from our students," the headmistress said seriously. Steve could practically feel the anger radiating off the boy beside him and looked down at the child.

"I would like to hear Phil's side of the story," he said carefully and Phil immediately stood up and the tale came pouring out before any of them could do anything.

"They were bullying Sarah! I told them to stop - "

"They were doing no such thing, Philip," Mrs. Mitchell said sternly and Phil slowly sat down, still angry. "Sarah told us she fell off the slide. That is why she was crying and dirty."

"Then how do you explain the food on her?!" he protested, voice rising in pitch. "They were bullying - "

"Philip, that is enough!" the headmistress ordered and Phil looked down, sad and disappointed. "Now, Mr. Rogers, we regret to inform you that we are going to have to put Phil on a probation. He is excused from school for an undetermined amount of time for what he has done here. I will consult with the board of directors and get back to you on a decision as to whether he will be suspended or expelled." Steve nodded and stood up, putting a hand on Phil's shoulder.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry for the trouble he's caused," he said graciously. "Come along, Phil." Mrs. Mitchell watched them go and shook her head in disappointment as they left the room. As they were walking out of the room, Steve watched the little girl - Sarah, presumably - as they walked by. Phil was looking at her and she was looking at Phil. And then came the bashful, shy little smile and the girl pranced over, hair swinging and bouncing with her movements. Steve tactfully moved to the front desk to check if he needed to fill out anything, allowing Phil to turn and talk to her.

"Thanks for helping me, Phil," she said softly, looking down at her scuffed shoes. "They had been bullying me since the beginning of the year."

"Then why didn't you tell the principle the truth?" he asked, confused.

"Because they might bully me even more if I do tell..." she said sadly. "But I was happy to have a friend, if even for a day," she commented and gave Phil a quick hug before bouncing back over to where the nurses were calling her name. "See you soon, Phil!"

"See you soon, Sarah!" he called back as Steve walked him out of the room in silence. Instead of only the festering anger though, there was something more to Phil. A smile, a lightness in his step. The lightness that only comes with new friendship.

000000

The drive home was exceedingly awkward.

As was the elevator ride up the Tower.

As was the elevator music.

As was the looks everyone was giving him as he walked straight to his room without having to be told, and slammed the door.

As was the fact that he slammed the door on Steve's hand.

"OW!"

"SORRY!" Phil shouted and yanked open the door, looking fearfully at the super soldier. "Do you want to come in?" he asked and Steve smiled.

"Could I?" Phil opened the door and the adult moved to sit on the boy's superhero decorated bed. "Come and sit next to me Phil. I wanted to ask you something: what happened today? Mrs. Mitchell obviously doesn't want to tell or accept the truth, and I know you do. So what happened?" Phil looked down at his bruised and bleeding knuckles.

"They were bullying Sarah. We eat lunch together too, you know. They would take her food and play with it, trip her on her way to the lunch line...they even flipped her tray up into her face one time."

"Is that why there's food on her clothes?" Phil nodded and Steve reciprocated the action. "What happened then?"

"She was in my class and I had been working with her on a math assignment, so I approached her during recess when I saw here under the slide, hiding. But before I got there, the other fourth graders did. they were the same ones who were bullying her inside and they began pushing her around, yanking on her hair until she began crying, so I told them to stop There were three of them though and they began beating me up, too. It reminded me of my dad...and Sarah was trying to tell them to leave me alone and she...she reminded me..."

"Of your mom," Steve finished quietly. Phil nodded and took a few deep breaths.

"I tried to warn them. I told them I would end up hurting them if they didn't stop. And they didn't stop. They just laughed at me and I laughed along. Just for a few seconds. Then I lost it. I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew I was pulling Sarah away from them...they all had bloody noses, bruises...just like me. then the teachers came and they only sided with the fourth graders because that group of students are the kids of the schools founder, the headmistress, and the dean." Phil stopped there and Steve put a hand on his shoulder to tell him that he didn't need to go on. He understood the rest of the picture from there.

"Do I need to go back there?" Phil asked and Steve shook his head.

"NO. You're too good for this snob-fest. We're pulling you out. Not like you really need school anyway," Steve assured him and stood up, moving to the door. "One thing though, Phil. Fighting isn't always the answer, you know that, right?"

"I know. I just couldn't find an alternative." Steve nodded in response.

"I know. But you know when to fight, and when to negotiate?"

"Always," Phil responded and Steve nodded, making to leave the room when a thought struck him.

"I'll send Banner in here to check you up, but until further notice you're grounded. Just because we need to employ some form of obedience," Steve said, apologetically.

"It's alright," Phil said and flopped down on his back on his bed. "I would do the same thing in your place. Just as long as I don't have to go back there."

"Ah, no. No, no, no, no, no, you are NEVER going back to that...sodding excuse for a school. Well, I'll inform the others of what happened. Talk to J.A.R.V.I.S. to keep yourself company if you like."

"OKAY!" Phil said excited. "J.A.R.V.I.S. want to play 'I spy?' You can choose anything anywhere. I just have to guess what it is based on your description, even if it's not where I can see it!"

"Okay," the AI responded and Steve shook his head, leaving the room. "I spy with my little eye..."

He had a tale or two to tell to the others about that sad excuse for a school. And it involved getting it shut down through genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist influence...

000000

"News reporters are at the elementary school documenting its sudden reaction to being bought out and demolished for a new garden nursery named "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood Flowers." Parents are finding this hard to believe since there are already four other nurseries within fifteen minutes walking distance but - "

Steve shut off the TV again. He wasn't even going to ask Tony why he chose the nursery alibi. And he wasn't even going to dream about going near the fact that it was going to be named after an old children's TV show.

Never mind. Who was he kidding?

"TONYYYY!"


	28. Chapter 28: Illusions & Violins

**A/N: RETURN OF THE NICE PHILOSOPHICAL SECURITY GUARD FROM THE AVENGERS! am I the only one who loved that character? This fic is going to be coming to an end soon, but I'll try and update more regularly. LOKI THE VIOLINIST!**

"GO AWAY!" Phil screamed, running down the hallway, clutching his limp and injured arm to himself. Terror pumped through his tiny body as he made for the refuge of his room, ignoring the cries behind him.

"Phil, listen, it was an accident - "

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

_SLAM_.

Loki rested his head on the door in defeat. It had been an accident, he hadn't meant it. It had been a brief relapse, nothing more. But those few seconds, that one gleam in his eye had undone everything. But it had been an _accident!_ Phil, one of the only people who gave him some shred of comfort and happiness, hadn't understood that.

"Phil?" he tried again and opened the door slightly.

"**GET AWAY!**"

The wood was forced closed in his face again and he heard a chair being dragged to the door to be braced under the doorknob. The Frost Giant gave up as he heard muffled crying from behind the door. He looked down at his hands and felt his gut clench as he saw a few flecks of a bright red substance on them.

"Phil? Phil, did I hurt you?" Loki asked, bracing his arms on the door frame. "Did I hurt you?" Tears and soft sobs were his only response. "Dammit," he whispered and slowly sank down to his knees to wait for Phil to come out, guilt stealing back into his heart. "Phil?"

It had been an accident, he reassured himself. Nothing had been meant by it.

But that door remained shut. And Loki had no idea for how long it would.

"Mr. Laufeyson, Mr. Stark has returned from his meeting with the city council," came J.A.R.V.I.S's calm voice and Loki rested his head on his knees. This wouldn't go over well.

"Helloooo, I'm back!" came Stark's voice and the exiled son didn't make any move to acknowledge him. Tony walked by the hallway and stopped as he saw the shattered glass table in the living room and the small drops of blood on the floor. He immediately back pedaled to look down the hall and saw Loki sitting there, defeated.

"What happened?" he asked, voice sympathetically firm. Loki looked up, distraught and horrified.

"I...I hurt Phil," he whispered and Tony pulled the numb man to his feet. "It was an accident, I didn't mean it! He just...I..."

"Loki, take a deep breath and tell me _what _happened," the billionaire ordered and Loki took a few deep breaths.

000000

"Good morning, Phil," Loki said absentmindedly as he sat reading a book. Sleepy eyed, Phil looked over at him and then around at his surroundings.

"Where is everyone?" he asked blearily, rubbing his eyes.

"Captain Rogers has gone to visit an old friend, he didn't say who. Romanoff and Barton are reporting to Fury for a check up on our situation. Stark is having a meeting with the city council. Ms. Potts is in DC again, and Doctor Banner has gone to give a presentation to a college a little ways out of town. Something on the effects of gamma radiation..." he said, still engrossed in the book.

"Where's Thor?" Loki looked up, thinking.

"Ah, he left to go see a woman in New Mexico. A Jane Foster." Phil nodded and poured himself some cereal, wisely choosing to not have Loki try and make him breakfast. That was an experience he didn't want to relive.

"What you reading?" the boy asked, walking over to sit next to Loki on the couch. Loki closed it and set it to the side.

"_Les_ _Miserables_ by Victor Hugo," he answered. "Natasha recommended it to me."

"Sad story. It all started with a stolen piece of bread," a voice said next to him and Loki froze, turning his head ever so slightly to look at whatever was beside him. And jumped to his feet as the world about him turned to some sort of chamber far away from Midgard.

Thanos laughed at him and moved to stand before him.

"A bit like you, lost prince. Your problems all started with a stolen right, a stolen prize. With a senseless slight. And now, here you are, running from and betraying those who supported you. People like me," he growled and Loki backed away. "I will get you, little prince. And it will be slow and painful, I promise."

"Leave me alone," Loki whispered, voice unsteady.

"Loki?" Phil asked, looking at the disheveled god moving about the room as though in a trance. The adult was gazing in a panicked, crazed way at empty space. "Loki, there's nothing there...what's wrong?"

"Leave you alone? There's no way I'm leaving my lost sheep alone," Thanos teased. "I need to take you in, like a good ally does. He follows through with his promises."

"I'm warning you," Loki threatened, ice building on his arm, forming jagged edges. "Leave me alone."

Phil backed away into the corner under the angry gaze of the god, tears starting to form in his eyes. There was something wrong with Loki. There was something wrong.

"There's no one here to protect you, why should I leave? I want my vengeance first." Thanos stepped forward menacingly and made to grab the god.

"NO!" Loki shouted and swung his ice clad arm down into the monster's outstretched arm, following up the motion by grabbing the man and forcing him up against the wall, one hand fastened on his injured arm, the other covered in sharp ice and held inches from his foe's throat. There was a madness burning in him, an anger that he couldn't control. He wanted to kill this man right here, right -

"LOKI! STOP!" a tearful, terrified voice screamed and Loki gasped as though coming out of a spell. The world of his nightmares fell apart to reveal Stark Tower. The glass coffee table was shattered and he found his foe was far from being Thanos. Horrified, Loki released Phil and the boy fell two feet to the ground from where Loki had lifted him, ready to slit his throat.

"Phil...Phil, I wasn't - I wouldn't...I didn't mean," Loki babbled and tried to step towards the stunned child. The boy screamed and tried to run away from the adult, but found his way cut off by the island and the couch. He whimpered and kicked out at Loki as the god approached, holding his arm close to himself.

"You were going to kill me," Phil whispered and pushed himself farther into the corner. "STAY AWAY!" Loki heard a laugh behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Thanos standing there.

"You did this," Loki hissed angrily. "You made me hurt him!"

"It is approaching in the dark. Loki, you have met your mark. Your tale here's ending so don't cry, once you save his life four times," he laughed in an almost sing-songy way and Loki started forward.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" he screamed and lashed out, hand hitting nothing. "What's happening to me?" he whispered in horror and looked around as Phil sprinted for his room. "Phil!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME!"

"Phil, please!"

000000

Tony looked at the god in helpless puzzlement.

"Well...do you know if he's _okay_?" Loki shook his head.

"He wouldn't let me see him. I asked, but he...he didn't answer. He's just in there...crying." Tony nodded and left the god on the couch and went to the bedroom.

"Phil? Hey, it's Tony. Can I come in?" There was a hurried scraping of wood on the floor and the door was thrown open, the little boy launching himself into the man's arms, holding him close with both his injured and undamaged arms. In the living room, Loki clenched his hands and bowed his head, shaking with the pain of hearing the tearful sobs. Sobs that he was responsible for.

He stood up abruptly and headed for the elevator.

"Tony, Tony, he - he tried...he tried to hurt me, he tried to kill me!" Phil cried, trying to grip tighter to Tony as though the adult was his only source of protection. Slightly taken aback, Tony picked the boy up and moved into his room. One of the pillow cases had been torn up into strips and he looked down at the boy in bafflement.

"Phil, did you make bandages out of your pillow case?" he asked, incredulous. The boy nodded and tried to shield his arm as Tony looked at it. "What happened?"

"Loki went all weird. He - he started talking to nothing and then he attacked - attacked me. He hit me with his ice arm thing and - and he cut my arm...I don't think it's that bad..."

"Let me see it, Phil. You're doing great, you know. If i was your age, I'd be bawling my eyes out," Tony said in some form of sardonic comfort. But his fears were assuaged as he saw that it wasn't a bad cut, more of a large bruise with a moderate slash down the middle. Nothing that Bruce wouldn't be able to fix up when he got back. "Well, the good news is this isn't anything to be worried about. It just looks bad." Phil nodded, still shaking from his ordeal and looking at something in the space by Tony's elbow.

"You okay?" he asked, waiting for a response. "Hey, Phil?"

"Can you just leave me alone?" he asked, voice numb. "Please?" Tony looked slightly taken aback, but recognized the contemplative, processing look on the child's face.

"Okay. Just tell J.A.R.V.I.S. if you need anything," Tony said softly and slowly left the room, bee-lining for Loki.

Except when he got there, the god was no where to be found.

000000

Loki had changed into his civilian clothing - black jeans and a light green button down shirt with a black leather jacket - and was around a factory sort of area. Everything seemed rundown, like himself, and he took comfort in that as he progressed, trying to get the sobs out of his head, the tears. That prophecy. And failed. He took a heavy breath and walked over to sit on the edge of the pier to look down into the thick, murky water. Something deep in his chest ached and burned.

"You okay son?" a voice, deepened with age, asked and Loki looked over his shoulder to see a thin and wiry older gentleman in a security uniform.

"I don't think so," he said sadly and the man sat down beside him.

"You've got two paths in front of you. You can go back to safety, slink away to your hole and avoid the world; or you can do what is right, what's moral, what's better for your conscious." Loki looked at him in surprise. "You're afraid to hurt people that you care about. Where you can do the most good is where you can do the most harm," he finished. He laughed lightly at the fearful face before him.

"What - How..."

"I met a young man in this very building last year..." the security guard began. "But he wasn't a young man when he showed up," he warned and settled back as though for a story. "When he first showed up, he was big, green, and buck-ass nude." Loki looked at him slightly more apprehensive.

"You met Doctor Banner?"

"Oh so you know him?" the man asked, surprised. "Well, I guess that makes sense. You look like someone who would be his friend."

"I'm not...I'm not his friend," Loki interjected, bitter and remorseful.

"What happened?" the man asked and the Frost Giant laughed bitterly. "Go on."

"You really want to know?" Loki asked, incredulous. "I...am Loki...Loki Laufeyson. And one year ago I came to earth, destroyed Manhattan, and tried to take over the world," he said, a laugh of over strained emotions making his voice shake and tremble. "And now...now I don't know what to do with myself. I'm treacherous by nature. I..." Loki took a deep breath and straightened his hunched back to tackle what he had been grappling with. "I came here seeking war. I got it, I lost, and I wanted more than anything to repent for what I had done. But when I came back, I just brought more pain and chaos with me..."

The sun had reached its zenith by the time that Loki had exhausted every facet of his story, every aspect, every self-doubt, every angry, happy, sad, betrayed moment.

"Well that's some story, son," the man said and Loki looked down at his hands with a sort of relief. "You feel any better?"

"No. Phil is still hurt. And nothing can excuse that," he said firmly and the man nodded.

"Well, that is true. Your relationship may never be the same, but from what you've told me he seems like the understanding forgiving type."

"That is abusing his trust." The security man sighed, aggravated.

"Do you want to wallow in your own pain all the time?! That is all you do in your life. You need to wake up, accept your mistakes, accept others, forgive, and move on! Trust in others to forgive you!" Loki took those words to heart and looked back down at the water.

"How do you know so much about all of this?" he asked, looking back at his companion. The man grew defensive.

"Ah, well...I'm what you call one of those people who sees more than the average moron on the streets," he said evasively. "Well, Mr. Laufeyson, I'd say you should go and take a walk around the city, mimic the people you see, try fitting in. And once you figure out how to live simply, to coexist with your faults, go back. And just give that kid a hug. Trust me, it'll work."

"What's your name?" Loki asked, hurriedly standing as his partner moved away.

"Oh, now telling you would be no fun would it? Just say that I'm an advisor of some sort. A new friend," he said, smiling. "Good day, Mr. Laufeyson." Loki watched in confusion and yet some form of awe as the old man walked away, whistling some long forgotten tune to himself. This strange person's words had struck a deep cord in him, had imprinted heavily upon him. But he couldn't pinpoint why.

000000

"What do you mean you _lost him?!_"

Silence.

"Do I even _want to know_?!"

Silence, and then...

"No, probably not," Tony admitted and Fury massaged his forehead. He swore that these childlike grown-ups - for that is what the Avengers team was to him - would kill him one day. Whether it was by their reckless antics or a landslide of paper work, he wasn't sure. Then, he moved onto a more important topic in his mind.

"How's Phil?" the director asked and Tony hesitated.

"I don't know. He had a cut that bled quite a bit, but wasn't deep. That was taken care of though."

"Have you told the others about what happened?" she asked and Tony shook his head.

"Steve's out with his old friend from the war and Thor's off with that scientist chick, so I haven't told them. I figured this was best kept close. You told Barton and Romanoff and I told Bruce, so that should be enough to take care of the situation. Thor would just get angry and Steve wouldn't trust Loki ever again if we told them," the billionaire explained and Fury nodded.

"Reasonable. Keep it that way for now." He looked down at his paper work again and Tony stood there in mild disbelief. "Was there something else, Stark?"

"Uh, yes. Aren't you going to, I don't know, send out some people to FIND LOKI?!" Fury gave him a cool, almost angry look.

"That's your situation," he answered and in five seconds Tony found himself outside headquarters next to Tasha and Clint, barely any better off than he had been before.

000000

"Phil?" Nat asked, leaning against the wall by Phil's door. "Phil, can you come out?"

"No," the boy answered defensively and the Russian took a patient breath.

"Why not?" she asked and there was a contemplative silence from the other side.

"Because," was the final answer. Romanoff sighed in anger and collected herself before trying to continue. She hated this phase in children: because. That and _why? _were the worst. Seeing her aggravation, Clint interceded.

"Phil, we need to talk to you about Loki," he said and the feeling behind the closed door changed to cold and disconnected. "He's gone missing." A pause...

"So? He can stay missing for all I care," Phil said, voice firm, and the two assassins looked at each other. This was going to be harder than they thought. They looked over at the billionaire sitting on the ground across from them, leaning against the wall. He took a bite of his apple.

"Told you," was all he offered them.

000000

There was more to this realm than he had realized before, Loki thought to himself. He was walking through Central Park and already had come across several different aspects of humans that he found rather interesting. There had been people practicing some form of slowed martial arts on the open grass. On the concrete there had been a group of people who were dancing to some lively, spirited music and he had watched discretely for a while. But there was incident that had impacted him in that same strange way as the security guard's words.

A young woman had been playing a violin in an almost dub-step manner and had been moving about as she played rather acrobatically and athletically, yet still keeping her playing of the best quality he had ever heard. Her expression was what had captivated him though, as much as the movement and the playing. Her face was constantly changing, though a smile was almost always present on her face. There was a sense of curiosity, wariness, seriousness, playfulness all at once, appearing at random intervals during her performance. It was so entrancing that Loki hadn't realized he had moved to join the crowd around her until he was already in the middle of it.

After a final strain, she swung the bow down to her side and bowed, a large smile on her face. People congratulated her and shook her hand, talking to her for a while. When she was finally alone, Loki stepped forward, stopping her as she began to move away.

"Excuse me," he said and she turned around to face him, smiling.

"Hi," she said, reaching out to shake his hand. "Can I help you with something?"

"I was just going to compliment you on your playing of this...what is this instrument called?"

She laughed before answering.

"A violin? Have you never seen one of these before?"

"I come from far away," he explained. "So I don't know these instruments names, unfortunately. I have never seen one before, or heard one. It is most beautiful," he said and she smiled and laughed again.

"You're a bit strange," she said, but continued smiling. "I like you for that. Here, hold it like this." She placed the instrument in the god's hands and began teaching him how to make a few notes. Soon he was playing scales, and she congratulated him as he managed to string a few together in the first few notes of a song.

"That's amazing! You should really take up the violin," she offered and he looked at her in surprise, handing back the instrument.

"Do you think so?"

"Of course! You're amazing at it! Sure you won't be spritely jumping about like me for a while, but you'll be a great player in no time," she assured him and lifted a hand in apology to answer her ringing phone. "Sorry." She talked briefly and hung up. "I have to go. But keep playing. You've definitely got promise." She left with a single wave. Loki looked around cautiously to make sure he wasn't being watched and waved his hands in an oblong gesture before himself, a violin in his hands.

000000

A young, well built man was walking down the path in Central Park, an elderly lady by his side. She had steely grey hair with a few stubborn black streaks from her youth still showing through on her head. Her eyes were sharp and keen and clear and her skin was wrinkled, though spotless for her age. Her complexion was clear and wise, and her whole demeanor and stance clearly pointed to a military career in her past. People passing them by thought that the young man was her oldest grandson maybe, or her youngest son though that was a stretch.

None guessed that they were lovers separated by time, and that they were truly old comrades, old friends, enjoying a stroll together.

However, if anyone heard their conversations they would swear they were an old couple with the way they would occasionally argue.

"Steve! I'm not a fragile flower, you don't have to hold my arm so tightly!" she protested and the young man immediately released her arm. "Rogers! I'm no spring chicken like you either!" and Steve promptly offered her his arm again.

"You still keep me on my toes," he teased and they continued walking. "I'm glad. It makes me feel as though not everything has gone that I once knew."

"What you know will never be gone forever, Steve," Peggy said softly and he smiled at her.

"I know," he answered and they walked in companionable silence. Then, they slowly stopped.

"Do you hear that?" she asked and Steve listened, enhanced hearing picking out the strange violin melody. "Someone's performing live in the park."

"Do you want to see?" he asked and when she nodded, they proceeded to join the growing crowd gathered before the concrete surrounded pond. The music sounded other worldly, but Steve froze as they came up close and Peggy looked at him in confusion.

He had never been so right in his life: it was DEFINITELY otherworldly.

'What is it?"

"It's Loki," he breathed back. She stiffened: had Peggy been a cat she would have been bristling. "Easy, he's okay. He's fine, actually...he's...happy."

"You sound surprised," she commented.

"You bet I'm surprised. He's out of the Tower, without a chaperone, and no one's panicking!"

Loki was playing the violin with a passion the super soldier had never seen in him before. He was moving with the music, eyes closed, performing the song as though he had been born to play the instrument. The people were entranced, as was Steve and Peggy smiled as she saw the god.

"He's happy alright. Look at him," she whispered, pointing discreetly. There was a _smile_ on Loki's face. Not one of those that told the world that it was screwed, but a gentle smile of peace and joy. Loki finished the song with a flourish and bowed to the gathered crowd to an applause that made the pale man blush. Even Steve was clapping and Peggy joined in after a moment's hesitation.

That was when Loki saw him and froze, that expression of satisfaction draining from his face to be replaced by that heaviness that had burdened him for so long.

"That was great Loki," Steve complimented him after the crowd had dissipated. "What are you doing out and about alone?"

"You don't know?" the man asked, numbly, fiddling with the violin in his hands. "There was an incident..."

"How long have you been able to play the piano, Loki?" Peggy asked, holding her hand out to him. "Peggy Carter, ex agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." Loki looked at her and shrugged.

"I learned a few hours ago."

"Hours?!" Steve asked shocked and Loki nodded. "But what was this incident?"

"I..." Loki began, but Peggy interrupted.

"Steve, I'm going to head home you have things you need to take care of," she said softly and Steve nodded, hugging her gently before she moved off.

"I'll just show you," Loki said, looking the super soldier in the eye without fear. "It's time I faced what I was running from. That I took a stand. And corrected my wrongs. I'm ready to go back to the Tower." Baffled, Steve nodded and Loki walked with him, a firmer spring in his step, a confidence that had been missing.

000000

When Loki walked into the room, Tony, Clint, Banner, and Natasha were sitting on the couch, preparing to watch a movie. They had given up a few hours ago in the war to get Phil out of his room. The boy had won. J.A.R.V.I.S. had told them that Phil was in no physical danger, and they decided to let him have his own time with what had happened if he didn't want anyone else with him.

"Where have you been?" Natasha asked, accusingly and stormed up to him. "You injure Phil and then run for it - "

"What?!" Steve asked sharply and chaos ensued.

"Listen up here!" Tony tried to interrupt. "It was an accident, okay? I watched the footage myself. Loki seriously thought he was seeing Thanos, not Phil. Maybe this guy can do stuff like that - "

"He hurt Phil?!" Steve shouted. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"This is why," Tony responded virulently and gestured to the raging soldier. "You'd overreact. Phil's fine. Just going through some isolation right now. Self induced of course."

"That's not good, Tony!" Steve cried, exasperated. Loki looked at the arguing adults and saw that Clint and Banner were wisely staying out of it. They knew it had been an accident, but they didn't want the task of convincing Steve of that.

"CAN WE ALL CALM DOWN!?" Banner finally shouted and everyone stopped to look at him. "It was an accident, no real harm was done, he's fine for the most part. He'll come out when he's - "

"Can I try and talk to him?" Loki asked suddenly and they looked at him surprised at the forward stance the god was taking.

"Knock yourself out," Clint offered. "We were at it for hours, no luck." Loki smiled slightly and walked over into the hallway. "What does he expect to be able to do?" the archer asked and they all shrugged. Steve was still fuming but became slightly perplexed as he watched Loki stand before the door and pull the violin up to his chin.

"Let's just start the movie," Banner offered and they settled down on the couch. "Give them some privacy." In the hall, Loki began talking.

"Phil, I learned something that I want to show you," he said softly. "I'm sorry for what happened earlier. It was a mistake, I promise. I would never have harmed you on purpose. Can I show you what I found out how to do today?" He heard soft footsteps by the door and smiled slightly.

In his bedroom, Phil stepped up to the door and listened as he heard a vibrant, playful violin start playing. It was soft, as though played only for his ears, and he smiled, reaching out to open the door. He stopped himself just in time though and waited a little longer. Finally his curiosity couldn't be stopped and he opened the door to see Loki standing there, playing the violin with a kind smile on his face.

"You play the violin?" the boy asked, shocked.

"I do now," the god answered and set the violin to the side. He held out a hand and an crystalline carving of a dove appeared on his open palm. "I know that you have made it a habit to forgive me all the time, so I ask for your forgiveness once more, and once more only. Do you know what the dove means?"

"Peace." Phil gently took the dove off of his hand and held it in his own smaller ones. "What happened, Loki? You really scared me."

"I'll tell you everything, right now, I promise. But first, does this mean I'm forgiven?" Phil paused in contemplation and nodded.

"Just one more time," he warned with child seriousness and Loki nodded, a faint smile on his lips.

"Of course, just this one last time." And with that, he followed the old man's words and pulled the boy into a hug that was returned with equal strength. From down the hall, he could hear the movie playing over the argument of Clint and Tony about the true nature of Sucker Punch: a movie of scantily clad women with machine guns (Tony) or an exploration of the human psyche (Clint). As he listened he couldn't help but shiver. The meaning of the dialogue was too coincidental and as he looked out the window Thanos sneered at him. He could hear the words loud and clear in his head as though the titan were actually speaking:

_It is coming. _He's_ next._

He held Phil even tighter and glared in response. The movie dialogue played again as Bruce restarted the movie because he couldn't hear over the arguing men who Nat shut up with two firm hits up the sides of their heads.

_Everyone has an Angel. A Guardian who watches over us. We can't know what form they'll take. One day, old man. Next day, little girl. But don't let appearances fool you: they can be as fierce as any dragon. Yet they're not here to fight our battles, but to whisper from our heart. Reminding that it's us. Its everyone of us who holds power over the world we create._


	29. Chapter 29: Revelations and Confessions

**A/N: YATTA! 100 FOLLOWERS! I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW, I GIVE YOU ALL CYBERNETIC/IMAGINARY HUGS! WOOHOO! I LOVE YOU ALL! as a gift and big thank you to all my readers, followers, favorite-ers, and reviewers: longer chapter.**

Thor sighed as he stepped back into Stark Tower. _It was good to be back home..._he thought to himself.

Back in the nest of utter cacophony and dysfunction. After a few days of hanging out with Jane in peace and quiet, he felt as though a deaf AND blind man could have heard and seen the..._chaos..._in the building.

And coming from Thor, that meant CHAOS.

In the room by the piano, Loki was playing a violin and performing some sort of strange quasi-dance with it and Phil was trying - very unsuccessfully - to imitate him. In the living room Thor had just stepped into, Natasha and Clint were yelling at each other about one thing or another and it ended with a heavy book flying at the archer's face while in the adjacent room Pepper and Tony had a similar conversation ending with another object thrown at the male participant - though in this case it was a shoe. Banner was looking very stressed out in the lab and Rogers kept throwing angry, wary glances in Loki and Phil's direction as subtly as he could as he read a book upside-down, showing that he was more preoccupied with the god of mischief and their de-aged agent than the words printed on the pages before him.

Yep. Home sweet home.

"THOR!" Phil shouted and ran over to the god, squealing with delight as the thunder god picked him up and threw him up in the air to catch him a few seconds later. "You're home!"

"Yes, I'm back. What is Loki playing?" he asked the boy seeing that he was ready to explode at the seams.

"It's a violin! He learned how to play it in two hours and he's really good, isn't he?" Phil asked eagerly, bouncing with the hyper energy of a five year old.

"Yes, he is," Thor said sincerely and Loki stopped playing to look at his sibling with worry.

"You complimenting me? Since when?" he asked shocked and Thor rolled his eyes.

"Since Jane taught me to be nice sometimes," the blonde responded and Loki shook his head in bafflement.

"All it takes is a woman to change you then? What if I'd been your sister?" Steve choked on the cup of tea he was drinking and everyone looked at him, including the arguing agents.

"I'm sorry, Loki as a girl?" the super soldier asked, coughing strangely to cover up laughter. "I'm sorry, just...no." A sudden gleam showed up in Loki's eyes and with a strange swirling magic a tall woman with long black hair and green eyes stood before them.

"OH GOD, CHANGE BACK!" Clint shouted and ran to the other room in horror. Loki began laughing and there was another burst of strange swirling magic and the she was back as a he. Romanoff and Steve had rather disturbed looks on their face and the arguing had stopped from the adjacent room.

"Did Loki just turn into a girl?" came Tony's voice and Thor nodded, smirking.

"We used to do that with our babysitters as children. They would be so confused. Phil, you look baffled."

"Why was Loki suddenly a girl?" he asked, looking up. "How do you know Loki is a boy? He could be actually a girl, but masquerading as a guy his - or would it be her then - whole life?" There was an awkward silence.

"Um, we really don't," Thor answered slowly and Loki looked insulted.

"I _am _a guy. That is insulting - " One of the pillows from the couch hit the back of his head with slightly painful force and he looked over his shoulder to see Romanoff examining a kitchen knife.

"You were saying something about being a woman in insulting?" she asked innocently and Loki immediately shook his head. "That's what I thought."

"No threatening people under asylum with knives, Romanoff," came a firm voice and they looked around to see Fury standing in the doorway. "Carry on, I'm just here to check in on Bann - "

"NICK!" shouted Phil and ran over to tackle the director in a big hug. The man didn't look amused.

"Come on, Phil. Nick has some things he needs to do, why don't you go and draw?" Loki asked tactfully, leading the boy away to his room. Fury raised an eyebrow.

"Since when did he become the Phil whisperer?" he asked and everyone shrugged. "I find it slightly alarming that the man who tried to kill Phil is the only one who has some measure of control with him."

"Steve has control over him," Pepper said as she entered the room, and Tony laughed.

"Yeah, sure. He's got respect for Capsicle over there because he takes literally every word out of that guy's mouth as gospel."

"Not my fault I'm his icon," Steve protested and went back to reading, only to finally realize that the book was upside down. "It really makes me uncomfortable," he added, scrambling to turn the book back upright.

"And yet for a good part of your life you went around the country singing and doing propaganda dances," Tony teased and the super soldier reddened, trying to disappear into the couch. "Oh don't be shy, Captain! Why don't you demonstrate for us? How did it go..._who's strong and brave, here to save the American_ Way?" At the sight of her boyfriend's antics, Pepper tactfully led the Director over to where Banner was working. Romanoff perched on the arm of the chair and waited for the more...interesting show to begin._ "Who vows to fight like a man for what's right night and daaaaayyyyyy?!_"

"TONY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Steve shouted suddenly and vaulted over the back of the couch to chase the billionaire out of the room. Yep, there was the more interesting show, Romanoff thought to herself and randomly said to the empty room,

"My money's on Stark."

"STARK?" came a disbelieving voice from the vent and Barton dropped down to the floor. "How Stark? My money's on Rogers." Romanoff looked around at him.

"Oh, Tony's got J.A.R.V.I.S." The archer nodded in contemplation.

"Good point. Despite the fact that Steve has J.A.R.V.I.S. practically in his pocket." Romanoff's head whipped around again.

"Since when?"

"Ever since Tony blasted 'Star Spangled Man With A Plan' at five in the morning to wake him up. He put a morality coding into J.A.R.V.I.S.'s system so that from now on, it questions what it's doing."

"And how does Steve of all people know how to do that?" Nat continued, still not convinced.

"Oh, a specific giant green rage monster may have helped. I mean, Tony woke _him_ up by blasting 'If You're Happy And You Know It.'"

"Is he trying to get killed?"

"Tony always lives on the edge," Clint assured her and they looked up again briefly as Steve walked calmly back into the room and sat down to read the book. "Problem solved?"

"Oh, yeah. He locked himself in his room and is debugging J.A.R.V.I.S. I was hoping that morality coding would last a bit longer."

"Yeah, me too," the agent sympathized and retreated to the archery range for some more practice after Nat threw one last tease at him.

"Told you my money would be on Stark!"

"Shut up..."

000000

Loki watched as Phil sang softly to himself and carefully drew a picture of him and Loki holding hands and walking by the beach outside Stark's House. In the boy's style, everything was meticulously drawn in the artist's endeavor to make sure everything was perfect.

"Are you going to leave soon?" the boy suddenly asked, and Loki immediately stood up.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone - "

"No, I meant..." Phil protested, turning around to look sadly at the god. "Are you going to leave...Midgard soon?" Loki sat back down by the boy and sighed.

"I don't know. In fact, I may never actually be able to go back to Asgard, but I'll have to leave Midgard," he explained softly and Phil frowned in contemplation.

"How does _that_ work?" The prophecy whispered through Loki's mind once more.

"I hope you never have to find out, Phil." Phil set down his pencil and set his head on his folded arms, scrutinizing the Frost Giant.

"Do you wanna leave?"

"No, of course not," Loki immediately assured him, the child tilting his head to the side in bafflement.

"Then, why don't you just stay?" he said as though it were the simplest thing in the world. Loki sighed and shook his head, sitting beside the boy, gently dropping his arm about the small one's shoulders as he snuggled into his side.

"It isn't that simple." Phil hmphed in disappointment and went back to scribbling.

"It never is," he responded, slightly bitter and the adult shook his head in agreement, rising and moving towards the door.

"No. It isn't. I wish the whole world was as simple as black and white, but there is no such thing as black and white in the world. Just shades of gray." Phil set down his pencil and turned to face the adult just as he was about to leave the room, door even half-open.

"What aren't you telling me?" he asked accusingly. The dark haired man looked taken aback. "You're sad about something. You don't want to talk about it because it makes you sad. It makes you scared. I can tell because you look so...upset whenever you see me!"

"It has nothing to do with you," Loki responded and looked down at his lap, trying to avoid the topic. But if there was one word that described infant Coulson, it was tenacious.

"Tell me. Or I'll guess, and it will be the right answer." Loki still didn't respond, and Phil cleared his throat as though in preparation to get a large burden off his chest. "You're gonna die."

Add highly perceptive to the list of words that describe him, Loki thought startled and gaped at the boy.

"Told you it was the right answer," the boy said sullenly and looked down at his drawing in disgust. "It looks terrible. It looks terrible because I know it will go away!"

"I - what makes you think I'm going to die?" the adult stammered. Phil looked at him.

"You look sad." Loki frowned, uncomprehending. "When you think we...I...can't see you," the boy elaborated, that sense of him being older returning. "Are you okay? And _don't..._just say you are, because I know what that means, looking sad when you think we can't see...Everyone thought that about me. They thought _I_ couldn't see, but I saw everything. I still _do_. You think you're gonna die. That's why you told me that you may never go back to Asgard but you have to leave Midgard."

"I...I don't know what to say - " the fugitive responded, stumbling over his words, and felt his throat constricting with something suspiciously close to anguish.

"Just tell me if I'm right," the boy whispered, looking down at his drawing, fingers creasing the edges ever so slightly in hidden turmoil. "Just tell me if I'm right. Are you..." he let the question hang in the air and Loki took a sharp breath and withdrew his arm from Phil's shoulders.

"I am going to die," Loki finally whispered and when the words were out of his mouth, he felt the fear, the anger, and the sadness that he had been holding back threaten to overwhelm him, and he ground the heels of his hands into his forehead. "I'm going to be killed."

"It's okay to be scared that they will find you - " Phil began, turning to the god, but Loki interrupted again.

"No. It's not me being scared. This is a fact set in stone. There are these things called the Fates that can predict the future, and they are never wrong. You can't stop their prophecies from coming true, ever. If the Fates tie the last thread of your tapestry and finish your story...it ends."

"When?" came the boy's small voice from in his arms, and the adult realized he was hugging the boy as though his life depended on it. And the grip was reciprocated.

"After I save someone four times. I haven't saved anyone four times, and there was no indication of who it was that I was supposed to save." Phil was silent for once, thinking, and then a brief flicker of fear and realization showed in his eyes, quickly masked.

"I won't let you die, Loki!" he proclaimed and hugged the god tighter. "I'll get big again and then I'll make sure no one ever hurts you, never, ever again. They come close I'll chase them away with a cricket bat!" Concerned, Loki pulled away and made the boy make eye contact with him.

"Phil, if they come for me, you need to run. You need to run as fast as your legs can carry you as far away as possible. Thanos will kill you just for the fun of it. And he'll make me watch. He'll make them _all_ watch, do you understand?" He cupped the boy's face in his hands and looked at the young, brave features before him. "He will destroy us all. Starting with you. I almost did that once a long time ago, and I can't allow anyone else to."

Phil nodded and took a deep breath, standing up. He was much subdued and Loki could tell. He felt slightly guilty for making the boy downcast, but the child had been annoyingly right: he had needed to tell someone other than Thor about what was going on.

"Can we go outside? I promise I'll be more careful not to call you Loki," Phil offered. The Asgardian prince sighed and looked around at the air vents. He had noticed a silhouette there a few minutes ago.

"Don't look at me," came a voice and Phil jumped, looking even more guilty than he had before. "I'd say you can go wherever you want, but you may want to not check in with Fury before you leave. He's kinda in a wound up mood."

"Thanks Clint!" Phil shouted and ran out of his room to get his shoes from their hiding place under the couch. The vent creaked open and Barton dropped in, making Loki look very uncomfortable.

"You're dying," he said plainly and Loki shook his head.

"No. I'm going to be killed after I save someone four times. I don't know when I'll die and I don't know who will kill me," the god explained lowly and Clint put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well...go and live your life like you're gonna die," he recommended. "I'll cover for you. Go out with Phil; I think he'll like climbing on the playground." Loki gave a brief smile and put his own hand on Clint's shoulder.

"Thank you." The archer nodded and left the room with the god, beelining for the lab and asking questions with aggravating speed. Fury and Banner both looked like they wanted to throw him out, but his questions must have been good ones because they were actually engaging in conversation with him.

"Come on, Phil," Loki whispered and, taking the boy's hand, crept past the lab door and entered the elevator. They both relaxed when the doors closed and Phil laughed.

"That was fun! Can we sneak around more?" he asked, looking up and Loki shrugged.

"Where do you want to sneak around?" The boy smiled at the masked consent and bounced eagerly on his feet. "So, do you want to go over to the park around the corner? It has a playground that is apparently good for climbing."

"Sure!"

"Well, I'll have to change my appearance...Loki wandering the streets won't be taken too well," the dark headed man mused mischievously, and Phil grinned.

The desk attendant looked up briefly in that habitual, lazy way of desk attendants as the elevator doors opened to reveal a small boy with a large, entirely black and green eyed alaskan malamute by his side. She began looking down but immediately looked back up when her brain finished processing what she had seen.

Phil smiled at the lady behind the desk. She had really thick, round glasses that made her eyes look magnified and bug like and she had frizzy bright red hair. There was something weird about her, the boy decided and waved at her as he walked out of the building. Disconcerted, she gave a hesitant half wave before shaking herself out of her taken aback stare.

That was weird, she thought and turned back to her crossword puzzle. Now, what was the Roman name for Zeus?

000000

Loki initially balked at exiting the tower. The noises and the smells of the city were all to sharp with his canine senses, and he wasn't keen to go waltzing out into the world of pollution. But his charge was wandering blindly out into the sidewalk, so he padded out after him, sneezing as he took in too big a breath near the street. People were staring at him, pointing, kids smiling. Finally, a little girl ran up to him and asked Phil if she could pet him.

"Uh...sure?" Loki glared at him, but, before he could run off, the girl tackled him in a hug and scratched behind his ears. Strange how a murderer who people hate could be loved by little children when he was a dog, the god thought to himself and proceeded to shake himself so that the child let go and ran back over to her mother, waving to the strange boy and his dog.

"Sorry, Loki. I guess you didn't like that so much," the boy said to the animal and got a low growl in response. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Say oh no, he's got rabies?" Loki looked at him pointedly. "_No_. I'm _not_ telling people that you have rabies." Phil shook his head and ran ahead, heading for the group of people at the corner of the intersection to wait for them as the light changed. Loki shook his head and was about to look away to watch the streets when he saw a bicyclist coming around a blind corner, on a collision course with Phil. His head rapidly played out the scenario that would follow: the angle was just right that Phil would be knocked over into the turn in the street, into on coming traffic. A car was approaching that corner at a high speed, planning to turn and the math added up to an unfortunate event. Loki barked loudly and began running, throwing his head side to side to shove people out of the way. Phil turned around at the bark just in time to see the bike nearly upon him and he threw his arms up in defense as the rider tried too late to brake.

But then Phil felt something warm, fuzzy, and huge tackle him to the ground, only to yelp and be knocked off of him.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" the bicyclist shouted and dismounted his bike. "Are you okay? Is your dog okay, I hit him with my bike, I'm so sorry!"

"Loki?" the boy asked, disoriented as people gathered around him. "Loki!?" Loki looked up from where he was draped over the curb and whimpered as he got to his four feet, holding his right front paw up off the ground. "You okay? Did you just save me?" Loki shook his head at the first point and nodded for the second. Phil sighed and stood up, sticking close to his friend as they walked back to the tower, leaving a crowd of very confused people.

000000

"Let's not go outside again," Phil finally said in the awkward silence.

"No. No, definitely not. Nope," Loki answered quickly and looked down at his sling. "Yeah, definitely not." Phil looked at him and frowned.

"I got it the first time." They were seated in the living room, Loki reading and Phil making a puzzle. Domesticity was much better than the outside world, Loki thought, settling back into the couch. In the outside world, he was always saving Phil from the dangers of Midgard.

What had it been, three times now?

**A/N: Three times, readers. Right about now, my evil Joss Whedon discipleship is kicking in. I give you a happy Klingon face! }:)**


	30. Chapter 30: Tesseract

**A/N: I've realized that my chapters have been rather dark and depressing recently, so I'm going to try and make it slightly happier...maybe. Oh sod it all, it'll end up how it'll end up. I'll TRY to make it lighter, but I can't promise anything.**

It was midnight. It was always midnight when things like this happened: simply the way of nature. Everyone was dead asleep; Banner was draped over a table in the lab yet again. Tony was with Pepper in his room. Loki was in his bedroom. Phil was curled up on the couch next to Romanoff. Steve was crashed in the chair opposite them, while Barton was up in the air vents in his little nest thing. Thor was snoring loud enough to wake the city below, sprawled across his bed. No one was awake. Everything was silent, like that Christmas poem.

And that was when the gentle throbbing, whispering sound came.

Loki's eyes opened and he sat up immediately, listening and waiting. The sound was one that he now loathed, though at one point he had coveted it. Surprisingly steady for the amount of adrenaline pouring through his system, he pulled back the covers and got to his feet, walking quietly out of his bedroom. His heart beat was elevated, pounding in his ears like incessant drum beats that he could never get rid of. Every step seemed like a step towards an irrevocable fate. He passed by every other doorway, the occupants still sound asleep. The blue light shone with a soft ethereality from the living room, making fear and denial flood the god. He rounded the corner, the percussion in his ears reaching a crescendo and dropping off suddenly to leave everything eerily quiet once more save for the soft whispers of the icy blue cube encased in an Asgardian crate sort of thing.

"What are you doing here?" he asked it, voice hoarse and he knelt before the almost sentient object. His heart began pounding in fear again, and he looked around him for something, anything to explain what had made this happen.

"Why only take you? I could also have the Tesseract. Establishing an emergency on Asgard that would mandate sending the Tesseract into the care of the humans - the only other race to have handled it - wasn't that difficult." Loki spun around and looked at the dark corner from whence the voice had come.

"Show yourself, Thanos!" he snarled lowly but was met with only shadows. Remembering what happened with Phil (and making himself feel sick in the process) he slowly sat down on the ground and rested his head on his arms, folding over his knees. He wouldn't hurt anyone else. Not today.

As the humans usually said: shit just got real, he reflected exhaustedly and soon fell asleep.

000000

A very specific boy slowly opened his eyes and went through the general routine of yawning and stretching in order to wake up entirely. He rubbed his eyes and took in a deep breath, looking at the coffee table in eager anticipation to continue his puzzle from yesterday. Instead, his eyes widened to the point where it looked as though they would pop out of his head, and he jumped easily a foot in the air.

"TESSERACT!"

That was the first thing that came out of Phil's mouth and it wasn't at all an excited shout. More like absolutely terrified to the point where you simply scream the plain obvious at the top of your lungs. Romanoff jumped and sat upright, blinking rapidly to rid the last of sleep from her eyes. Loki's head shot up from his seat against the wall, making him crack said head painfully hard on the plaster. Steve straightened so quickly and was so startled that he fell off the chair, and doors all over the floor banged open.

"What the hell do you mean, _tesseract?!_" Tony shouted as he came running into the room, stopping to gape at the pulsating light source on his coffee table. "Rock of Ages, what were you doing last night?" At the accusatory tone, Loki lifted both arms (right one gingerly due to its injury) and gave a very innocent, baffled expression.

"I didn't summon it here! I don't know _how_ it got here! I found it in the middle of the night and didn't want to deal with it so - "

"Oh, so is that what you guys do in Asgard? You walk into your house and say 'Oh hey, isn't that that very dangerous, bad luck charm we just fought a whole war over? It is? Oh okay, I'll just go back to sleep then - "

"Tony," Romanoff chastised. "What was he supposed to do? It obviously wasn't doing anything and - "

"It could have done _something_! And then we'd all be dead!" the billionaire protested as Thor walked up to it and poked it experimentally with Mjolnir. "Whoa, Point Break!" Steve reached out a hand to Thor in caution.

"I don't think it's the best idea to touch it. Schmidt disintegrated - " Without further ado, Loki rose and picked up the Tesseract, using the handles on the crate thing it was in.

"LOKI, NO. LOKI, STOP. LOKI - "Anything starting with Loki was basically shouted simultaneously by everyone, including the child, and a tense silence stretched out as they waited for the man to vanish in a giant disintegrating flash of light. When nothing happened, and Loki looked at them with a frown of concerned innocence, they all heaved a massive sigh of relief in unison.

"Okay, Loki, why don't you bring the Tesseract into the lab," Banner advised, straightening his askew glasses and running a hand through his sleep tousled hair. "We can design a special holding place for it in there. Will that work, you think?"

"I don't know," Loki responded in all honesty, but followed the doctor nonetheless, gingerly holding the Tesseract at a safe distance before him as he went. "Wouldn't hurt to try."

"Oh, and Phil, I need to have a conversation with you and well I guess everyone else when we have the chance!" Banner called and Phil bit his lip in worry. The door opened and closed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's that he found out how to change you back to being an adult," Clint told him and dropped a hand on his shoulder. There was something slightly distant and very morose in the child's eyes as he spoke.

"Exactly." They all looked at him in confusion. "The last time he tried I nearly died." His voice was voice low, but his words were carefully enunciated. When Loki came out of the lab, Pepper took the opportunity to break the awkward silence.

"So, does everyone want to go on a little excursion outsi - "

"NO!" The woman jumped and looked at the god of mischief, Phil, and Clint. "Yeah, uh just...no," the archer finished and quickly picked up the newspaper on the arm of the chair, reading it upside down.

"Right, Loki you didn't get that injury from playing the violin did you?" Pepper asked in a scolding way. The god looked up, confused. "You told me that you injured it playing the violin." Loki shrugged, all innocence.

"Um, I _could_ have stopped Phil from getting hit by a car, but that is _very, VERY_ unlikely," he assured her and the adult nodded, smiling.

"Of course. Tony, why don't you take Phil into the gym. I'm sure he would get a kick out of all of the obstacle course things you have in there. Like that big rope hanging from the ceiling," she added pointedly, making sure the drawing child could hear her.

"WHAT?!" the boy asked excited. "Can we go, can we go, can we go, can we go?!" Tony gave Pepper a death glare before Phil grabbed his hand and ran off to the elevator. He would be hard pressed to keep this child entertained for a whole day. Then again...

The wheels started turning in the billionaire's mind.

That night, Phil was completely exhausted, curled up under his covers. His dreams were of soft violin tones, climbing ropes, fun obstacle courses, and his best friends in the world playing hide and seek. There was no one around him in those dreams to plunge him into a nightmare. And every time he started drifting closer to a dark alleyway that held the monsters of his past, a gentle hand would close around his shoulder, leading him away, back to the smiling group of friends. And that hand was always Loki. He woke up a few hours later with a smile on his face. He could still hear voices out in the living room and he was too ramped up to go to bed again. His eager eyes lit on his desk right below the air vent.

* * *

"Okay, who's genius idea was it to play hide and go seek in an obstacle course with the Avengers?" Fury asked, surveying the injuries around him. Tony had a black eye from where Romanoff had hit him, while Barton was nursing a sprained wrist. Banner was pacing around looking like he was on the verge of a nervous break down (courtesy of a surprise attack from Thor that nearly sent him into Hulk mode), and Loki was looking very shaken after a specific agent had tackled him from the rafters. Only Steve and Romanoff were unscathed. The first had been in charge of hiding with Phil while the latter terrorized everyone else in the room.

Surprisingly though, Rogers and Phil had never been found until the very end, both managing to squeeze themselves _under_ the actual obstacle course since it was elevated two feet off the ground. And they had all been taken by surprise when they found out it was actually the adult's idea to hide there.

"Well?"

"It was Tony's idea," Pepper answered for them as she returned with an ice pack for Clint. "There you go, that should keep the swelling down."

"You all are like rambunctious kids when Phil's around!" the Director exclaimed, rubbing his head in annoyance. "Can you please maintain some level of control and do something normal when you're with him?"

"Normal and rejuvenated Phil Coulson don't go in the same sentence," Banner responded, finally managing to calm down and remain seated for thirty seconds. "He makes us all kids at heart and well...this sort of stuff happens."

"Yeah, except when superheroes turn into wrestling kids, the whole tower is in danger for internal implosion," the one-eyed man reprimanded, but they all shrugged. Wasn't like it bothered them much. "Well, now that that's over I want Banner and Tony to talk to you all about the process that they have developed to change Phil back into his normal self."

"I have been able to recreate the experiment we did before and with the same mistake. We've run test after test on the computer's simulation and so far it still rejuvenates every single time. From there, we reenacted Phil's development problems, our solution to that, and reversed the machine's programming to put Phil back to his real age. It basically adds however many years it took away." Here, Tony picked up the conversation.

"We've tried the new model on hundreds of simulations and we've found that it works only 75% of the time. It's an unpredictable process, like the shrink tank in the first place. It either works or it doesn't." The team glared at him. "I know that isn't the response you want, but it's what we have so far."

"I don't think we can let Phil go through with the procedure right now, it's still too unstable," Steve responded immediately, and Romanoff nodded.

"I agree. How long will it take for you to increase the safety of the process?" she asked, voice immediately filled with motherly concern. The two scientists hesitated, and Thor frowned.

"What is wrong, Doctor Banner and metal man?" Loki's eyes took on a light of realization, and he released a slow breath of understanding.

"It won't get any safer," he answered and they all looked at him. "That's why you won't answer. You can't make it any safer." Tony clenched his jaw and nodded.

"We've tried every possible combination and we can't...it just gets more dangerous."

"So what are you going to tell him? That he's stuck forever as a five year old? Because it's been a few months by now and he hasn't shown any sign of aging. Like, at all," Clint continued, looking around at the others.

"Well, it isn't forever if he goes through with it and comes out okay," Banner offered and immediately held up his hands in defense. "I'm not saying we drag him in there kicking and screaming if he doesn't want to. He just needs to know every aspect without any sort of bias as to which he should choose."

"That I think we can all agree on," Fury agreed, looking around at each of them. "So, who do we want to tell him?" At that point, they all looked at him. "You want me?"

"Of course. You _are_ his childhood friend in his mind and he would trust your word," Romanoff offered, but Tony shook his head.

"That's the problem. He would argue with Fury. He needs someone he can trust but will just listen to, not argue." All heads simultaneously turned to a particular ninety-two year old in the room. "Captain, you're up."

"Now that's just abusing his trust in me," he protested, but they all shook their heads. "Fine, what do you want me to tell him?"

"Well, nothing right now. We need to let him sleep: we tired him out a lot today and he is a little kid," Banner answered and looked around at the clock. "In fact, we should all get to bed so we can have a fresh start tomorrow. I have a feeling that we're going to need it."

As they all left the room, none noticed the small pair of eyes watching from the vent. They were sad and disappointed, yet with a streak of determination. He would fix this. He would show them that he wasn't scared.

He would show all of them. He would show Tasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce, Steve, Nick, Thor, and Pepper that he wasn't scared.

He would do it to show Loki.

With that thought, he crawled back to his room and fell asleep immediately.

And in the lab, safely locked away in an impenetrable container enhanced not only by Stark's technology and S.H.I.E.L.D. technology, but also by Loki's limited magic, the Tesseract continued to pulsate and throb in its rhythmic way.

**A/N: Okay, okay, I _know_! This chapter got dark again at the end, I'm sorry. But I promise next chapter will be only cute n' cuddly stuff! I PROMISE. **


	31. Chapter 31: We Had Today

**A/N: Chapter partially inspired by the soundtrack We Had Today by Rachel Portman. Sorry for the wait, but as you can see: MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH longer chapter than usual. special gift. :)**

Phil opened his eyes that morning to see the world outside bathed in a bright light under a brilliant blue sky. From the wind socks on the tops of the buildings, he could see that there was a gentle, persistent breeze. He smiled at the seagulls gliding past the buildings as they tried to touch the sky, and his imaginative mind thought of how it would feel to stand on the top of the building, at the very edge and spread his arms out into the wind. Like those birds he was watching now. Those creatures he envied for their beauty and their liberty. He quietly got dressed and left his room, tip toeing down the hall and outside to the stair case that led to the very top of the tower. He cast a wary eye about before he closed the door behind him, sprinting up the stairs to the outside world. Slowly, feeling very vulnerable and exposed, he stood up and looked about himself.

He felt so small, so alone in a big, enormous world. Everything seemed to have its place and where it fit in, running smoothly, except for him. He fell from one branch of the tree of life onto the other, and hoped that the leaves on each of those branches would hold him up. But then, he looked around and felt the breeze sweep across him. Gone was that sensation of not belonging, instead replaced by a feeling of liberty, infinite, and liberation. He felt like those birds that he loved to watch as a kid then and as a kid now. He felt as though he had a place in the world: being above it and not concerned with it. It made him smile as he walked over to the edge, where the wind was strongest, and spread his arms out in the wind, laughing at the tingling sensation the air gave him.

From his vantage point behind the half-open door, Thor smiled to himself. The boy was happy, yet not. He knew the feeling well: that of having figured out that he had no real place other than the one that he made up for himself. It was how he felt when he was thrown to earth, with no knowledge on how to live his life with mortals. Out of his depth he guessed. He opened the door the rest of the way and Phil turned around to beam at him.

"Hello Thor! I'm going to do the operation thing you guys were talking about last night! And I'm not scared one bit!" The god looked taken aback and he stuttered as he tried to pick up the conversation from there.

"Oh, um...good. You have no fear, son of Coul. I'm not sure if that makes you brave or a great fool," he said playfully and Phil ran over to him, the adult picking him up effortlessly. "What were you doing up here?"

"I like the wind," he said into the tall, broad man's shirt. "It makes me feel like I can fly."

"Well, I'm sure that Metal Man can take you up flying," Thor assured him, smiling at the boy.

"Why do you call him Metal Man? His name's Tony," the boy asked, puzzled.

"I call him metal Man because of his suit. I know his name's Tony, by the way. I just like to annoy him," he whispered as though it were their little secret. Phil frowned.

"I don't think it annoys him though. I think he likes it..."

"Well then, I'll have to come up with something more annoying. Do you want to help?"

"Yeah!" Phil answered eagerly, and Thor laughed.

"Well, let's continue downstairs. You're a bit cold and I don't think you ate, am I right?" Phil looked down. "I knew I was right!" He set the boy back down. "Go on, I'll be a moment." Phil nodded and ran over to the stairwell, going back down inside and marveling at how cold he had actually been. He hadn't realized it until Thor had told him he was cold. Weird how the human body worked.

On the roof, Thor ran a hand through his hair. How had the boy learned about everything?! How?! He had been asleep, there was no way for him to have heard what they were talking about! Unless...

Loki _had_ been constantly looking at the air vent...

"Oh, idiot!" Thor breathed to himself as he went down the stairs, falling down the last few as he dodged a paper airplane thrown by a giggling boy.

"I thought you were a warrior!" the child laughed.

"I am!" Thor retorted, insulted.

"Then why don't you have good balance and reflexes?" Thor opened his mouth to respond but no words came out, giving his sibling the perfect window.

"Because Thor is a lame warrior, maybe?" came Loki's innocent voice from where had teleported to sit on the sofa, examining his violin.

"Oh, coming from you that means almost nothing," Thor responded and Loki rolled his eyes.

"I don't claim to be a good warrior, brother," he said pointedly, voice purposely exasperated. "You always knew I was better at talking my way out of something than swinging my sword through it."

"You used your magic!" Thor accused. "We don't all have magic, so you have an unfair advantage!"

"Oh, but it came in handy with the Frost Giants, didn't it?"

"You two argue like Clint and Nat," Phil said idly as he dropped down onto the couch beside Loki. At that moment, Clint speed walked out of the hallway, Romanoff chasing after him.

"I swear that wasn't me! Why would I do that, tell me!" the archer protested, walking backwards, hands held off to ward off any sort of attack from his friend. Her hair was soaked and plastered to her face, as was her shirt.

"Because you needed to get payback at him for painting your bow pink, and I was the closest thing to getting vengeance on him?" she asked, pointing at Phil who immediately looked up with wide eyes.

"_What_ did I do?" he asked but Loki shook his head.

"Nothing. They're having a little domestic," he advised the child, who nodded in turn and went back to resting his head on the god's arm. Thor looked at his sibling with a slightly sad, reminiscing smile. "What, Thor?"

"Oh, I'm just imagining you as an uncle." Loki sat upright.

"An _uncle_?! Thor, _please_ tell me you're not a father," he pleaded, but Thor just laughed.

"Not _yet, _Loki. But I expect you to be the uncle _and_ the godfather of my child, bear that in mind." Defeated, Loki fell back on the pillows. "What? Does the idea of you being responsible for a child alarm you?"

"No, you passing on your genes alarms me," the younger one responded without missing a beat, and Thor smiled while Phil giggled.

"There. You are back to yourself, dear brother."

"I DIDN'T DUMP A GLASS OF COLD WATER ON YOU!" Unnoticed by any of them, Phil seemed to shrink down in the couch.

"THEN HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS?!"

"STARK!" Clint finally shouted, and Romanoff ran to the billionaire's bedroom. The archer raised an eyebrow as they all listened in.

"Ow, _ROMANOFF_!" came Pepper's _very_ annoyed voice accompanied by the sound of what seemed to be the assassin stepping up onto the bed and over Pepper without giving much regard as to what was person and what was mattress.

"STARK!" she shouted and there was an equally loud squawk of some sort from Tony.

"Oh, I see someone doused the cat in water," he said, now wide awake. "HEY WHAT - "

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, STARK?!"

"IT WASN'T ME, WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK IT'S ALWAYS ME!?" Romanoff stalked out of the room to stand before Loki.

"Just because I'm the God of Mischief DOESN'T mean that I am suicidal."

"Look, I just want to know _which_ maniac did this - "

"I'm sorry Tasha! I wanted to leave you a glass of water on your window sill and I guess it just...fell." Everyone in the room looked over to Phil who was trying to cower behind Loki. Romanoff sighed and ran a hand through her wet hair, smiling slightly to herself.

"Don't worry about it, Phil," she finally answered and left the room to go and change. It was funny how a kid's horrified, innocent face could change someone's mood in a complete 180 from ready to murder to ready to cuddle someone. Kids.

"So, Phil how did you sleep?" Clint asked, vaulting over the back of the chair to perch on the cushioned seat, earning a look from Pepper as she walked into the kitchen, pulling a glass down from the cabinets.

"Pretty well. I eavesdropped on you guys last night." There was a dead silence, and Pepper almost dropped the glass she had been bringing over to the sink. "I'm not afraid. I want to do it." Tony came walking out of his bedroom, hair looking like a rat's nest and looked around at everyone's stunned and taken aback expressions. He frowned, half-asleep.

"What? Is it my hair?" he asked, slamming a hand down on top of his head in a drowsy attempt to get it to lay flat.

"Phil just said he was eavesdropping on us last night," Clint answered, not taking his eyes off the boy. Loki cleared his throat uncomfortably and looked harder at the violin's strings as he carefully adjusted them and tuned them. "Did you know?!"

"I could have seen someone in the air vent," he answered evasively, and Pepper dropped her head into her hands as Tony gaped.

"Do you not get the concept of _secret meeting_?" he asked and Loki shrugged.

"I thought he had the right to listen in."

"Well, Capsicle is going to be relieved he doesn't have to give Phil an awkward lecture."

"I don't have to?" came a new voice and they looked up to see the super soldier exiting the elevator. "Couldn't sleep, I was burning off some steam in the gym."

"I was eavesdropping. I know I shouldn't have, but I wanted to know what you guys were talking about. It doesn't feel good being kept out of the loop," the boy explained. "Especially when you're all talking about how I could die." That awkward silence returned.

"Well then, let's get off this whole dying topic already. I was just listening in and it made me depressed," came Banner's voice as the doctor walked into the room to sit on the opposite side of Loki. "Phil, what do you want to do today?"

Tony almost added that it might be his last day, but Romanoff elbowed him in the side as she walked by, cutting him off short.

"I want to spend time with each of you. Alone," he added as an after thought. They all had to momentarily remind themselves that his mind was advanced enough to know the dangers that went with him agreeing to go through with the procedure. Banner nodded and took off his glasses, cleaning them as an habitual response when he was thinking.

"Well, it's seven o'clock now. If it was, say, ten o'clock at night when he went to bed and there are seven of us...that would mean each of us would get about two hours with him. Would that work?" he asked, looking around at each of the adults. They nodded. "Phil? Is that enough time?" The boy nodded and gave a wan smile that reminded them all of his adult self.

"Can I go with Clint first?" he asked, and the archer smiled.

000000

"Where are we going?"

"If I told you that would ruin the surprise," the archer told him pointedly, and the child scrunched up his nose.

"I don't like surprises," he muttered. "They make me jump. And I hate getting startled."

"That I know from experience. Trust me though: this will be a good surprise. I promise that you'll like it." Phil nodded in agreement and grabbed the archer's hand as they walked down the street. It was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday morning. The agent had a backpack on that he had purposely not allowed his companion to see into. Finally, they entered Central Park, and the gears in Phil's mind started turning. What were they doing here?

When they had walked a ways in, Clint pulled him off onto one of the paths that led into the trees, setting down the backpack at the base of one of the wider branching trees. Reaching into it, he pulled out several lengths of rope, throwing it up and creating a series of knots that made it possible for the boy to climb up. The two friends looked at each other, a challenge in the other's eyes before they simultaneously tried to vault up onto the tree, racing each other up the branches.

A few minutes later, the two of them were seated at the very top of the tree, looking out at the world around them. Phil smiled at the vantage point and once he started he couldn't stop.

"So what are we going to do out here?"

"I spy? I also have binoculars for bird watching," Clint offered, and an entire hour ticked by without either one realizing. Another thirty minutes flew by, filled with laughter, stories, and companionable silences. Then, it was the last ten minutes.

"Clint, if I die - "

"Don't talk about that," the agent immediately answered, voice catching.

"No. If I do die tomorrow, can you promise to take care of the team for me?" Clint looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Look, I may be in a five-year old's body and have exhibited the mentality and behavior of a five-year old - rather mature one at that - but I can assure you that I have actually been myself this whole time."

"What?! What do you mean - " Clint began, turning to face his mentor, but Phil shook his head.

"Got you there," he smiled and Clint rolled his eyes, punching at the boy's arm playfully. "But I mean it. I have the memories that I had as an adult and I want you all to know that I always wanted to be your babysitter even when Fury was practically dragging me away from you guys. You need the watching. And I just want to know that you guys will be okay." Clint nodded and pulled Phil close to him.

"We'll be okay."

"No you won't," the boy scoffed. Clint laughed bitterly in admittance.

"No. We won't. Not at first. But we will. Eventually and with time." They sat that way and the archer looked down at his watch. "It's nine o'clock. Who do you want to go with next?"

"Thor."

"Being adventurous, are we? Isn't it a bit early in the morning to take on the god of thunder?" Barton teased, and Phil looked thoughtful. "I was joking."

"Oh I know. I was just trying to think of what he's going to do."

"Probably lecture you on Asgard."

"God, I hope not."

000000

It was definitely _not_ a lecture on Asgard.

Instead, Phil found himself sitting on the top of the Statue of Liberty, looking out over Ellis Island and all of Manhattan. This was definitely different and strange. He had never ever thought he would sit on Lady Liberty's head. Just..._no_.

"Should we be up here?" he asked suddenly, looking over at Thor. The god shrugged.

"Probably not."

"Oh. Okay," the boy answered, trying to shake the feeling in his stomach at doing something as socially taboo as _this_. "Then, shouldn't we leave?"

"Why? I'm a god. It's not as though mere mortals can simply challenge me," he joked, earning a small laugh. "Now, what can you tell me about the landscape, Son of Coul?"

"You don't know the New York skyline?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Well, _that_ is the Empire State building. That gap there is where the Twin Towers used to be. That is _obviously_ Stark Tower. This one is..." Thor smiled softly to himself and followed the boy's descriptions with the utmost attention. It felt good to have someone tell him the nature of the universe instead of the other way around. He marveled at how much information the child had in his head though when they managed to talk about the architecture of New York and Asgard comparatively for nearly two hours.

"Will you take care of Loki?" Phil asked on a sudden tangent, and Thor rose, picking up the boy and swinging Mjolnir in preparation for flight in his opposite hand.

"Always." And with that he jumped off the building, shooting back towards the top of Stark Tower. "I need a new name for Tony, by the way." Phil frowned in thought.

"Jerk?"

"Something a bit more specific, maybe," Thor laughed and put a hand on his charge's shoulder, smiling down at him. "Think about it." Phil nodded.

"When am I not?" he joked and tackled the god in a hug that was reciprocated with a great enough force that the boy had to squeak out that he couldn't breath to escape it.

The Bear Hug, Phil decided as he made sure no ribs were damaged. That was _Thor's_ nickname, hands down.

000000

Next, he went with Bruce.

After the god had flown back to the Tower, Phil and the doctor left to go to Central Park once more. Phil really hoped they weren't climbing trees again. Instead, they stopped on the open grass while Bruce opened the strange elongated package he had been carrying. Inside was a giant kite, once of those conventional diamond-shaped ones. They spent the rest of the late morning trying to get the thing up in the air, laughing at each other when they got tangled in the line and cheering when some breeze that suspiciously came up out of no where caught the fabric and yanked the kite up into the air.

And then both stared thoughtfully at the high tree branch it got tangled in and tried to figure out how to get it down.

When a half hour remained and the kite was safely back in their hands (Phil with a few scratches from his venture up into the heights of the tree), the boy rolled onto his stomach to look at the man lying beside him in the grass.

"Bruce, I wanna say goodbye to the other guy." Bruce sat up immediately and fumbled to get his glasses on straight.

"What?"

"I wanna say goodbye to the big guy. The Hulk."

"I don't think that's such a good idea..."

"Please? I may never get to see him again," Phil pleaded, eyes beseeching the scientist. "He was so sad and lonely. I just wanna be able to say goodbye." Banner sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in thought.

"Alright. But it'll have to be quick and somewhere remote, okay?" Phil nodded and hurriedly helped pack up the kite as they hailed a taxi and drove to the far side of the city to the warehouse Bruce had crashed into after the attack on the Helicarrier. Sighing in something close to reluctance, the adult pulled off his shoes and socks and his shirt, folding them neatly on the floor before placing his glasses on top of the garments. Phil watched silently as his friend walked to the center of the room and slowly grew in size and changed in color until the Hulk was crouched before him.

"Bruce?" he asked, gaining no response. He took a deep breath and gave a small, crooked smile. "Hulk?" The monster's head whipped up and intelligent brown eyes met the boy's. "Hi." Phil had to force himself not to make any sudden movements when the green rage monster quickly moved over to him in that crouched, lumbering gait of his to stop right before him, rising to his full height.

A low growl that wasn't exactly intimidating escaped his throat, and Phil smiled.

"Hi Bruce. I wanted to say bye to you big guy. I may not see you again," he said sadly, and the Hulk slowly crouched again, resting his knuckles on the ground. "Do you understand?" In response, a heavy green forehead rested on the top of his own head and strong arms picked him up and cradled him close, since that was how small the boy was to the large creature. "I'll miss you, big guy." That strange growl came again, and Phil giggled when he realized that it was a purr. "You're purring, Bruce. It's funny." There was something close to a growl/laugh and the Hulk dropped Phil gently back on his feet, taking a few steps back and dropping into a playful crouch.

"What are you doing? Seriously, Bruce, what are you _doing_?!" Phil laughed as, much like a dog, the Hulk leaped from side to side, dropping into that same playful crouch every time his feet hit the ground. "Bruce - " The Hulk gave that playful growl again, and the child slowly joined in the sparring.

And so started the game of gentle - emphasis on _gentle_ - game of tag between the little boy and the Hulk. And time ticked by in blissful laughter.

"I think it's been almost two hours, you two," came a sudden voice over Phil's laughter and the laughing growls of the Hulk. Both looked up to see a security guard standing idly against the door frame. "You're big and green again, but at least this time you aren't buck-ass nude." The Hulk frowned in puzzlement and slowly shrank back down into the size of Bruce Banner. "Welcome back. I didn't know you had that well of a lid on it."

"What?" the doctor asked, hurrying over to get his shirt, socks, and shoes back on. "What did he do?"

"He was playing tag with me!" Phil explained, practically skipping over to Bruce. "I think he was having fun."

"The other guy. The other guy was having fun while not destroying something? That'll be a first," Banner scoffed, but jumped as the mysterious security guard tossed his own cell phone at him. "What were you doing with that?"

"Recorded all of _that_ for you. Best have some memory of his last day," he commented lowly, nodding his head in the direction of the little boy currently spinning around in circles to see how long it would take for him to fall over due to dizziness.

"What I don't get is why the H - the other guy never attacks you. You've been in compromising scenarios with him twice now and he's never given you a second glance," Bruce commented, baffled, as he put his glasses on and called for Phil to come over.

"Well, let's just say he recognizes me as a friend," the man smiled and made to leave the room.

"What's your name?"

"It's a secret."

"Bit cryptic, isn't it?"

"At least I'm not telling you it's Death or something like that," he said and eyed the two of them carefully. "Be careful, Doctor Banner."

"What's he mean at least his name isn't Death?" Phil asked as they were leaving and Banner made a mental note to make sure the child didn't find out any more about Thanos than he needed to. How did the _security_ guard of all people know about that? he reflected absently

000000

His time with Romanoff was simple. They ate lunch at some sandwich place and then sat on the edge of one of the piers, looking out at the water, though it wasn't the most beautiful sight he had seen at some points. But mostly, it was just sitting there with Romanoff, reminiscing with her about things that they had gone through during this whole de-aging fiasco, that gave him the most satisfaction. It wasn't climbing trees, talking about the New York skyline from Lady Liberty's head, flying kites, or playing tag with the Hulk.

It was simply sitting, simply being. Simply basking in the warmth of friendship.

"The procedure will be at noon tomorrow," she said, abruptly breaking the moment with unwanted news, and looked down at the boy. Phil frowned, mind racing as to how to make this topic not as depressing or morbid.

"Bit of a cliché high noon thing, isn't it?" he asked and she smiled, wrapping her arms around him.

"Phil, you _need_ to stop with your sense of humor."

"Why do you hug me so much when I'm a kid? You would never do this if I was an adult," Phil commented, voice muffled by her jacket.

"It's because you're so darn cute as a little kid," she explained, teasingly, and Phil frowned.

"I don't want to think about how much black mail you guys have on me now," he growled, and Romanoff smirked.

"More than you know."

"Great. _Wonderful_."

000000

After spending some relaxing time with a Russian assassin, the boy moved on to spend two hours drawing with the super soldier by the duck pond in Central Park. That, too, was mellowing and relaxing. And really quiet at some points that bordered on awkward.

"Do you have any questions about tomorrow?" Steve asked after they had exhausted the nearly two hour long conversation topics about which duck they liked best, several rounds of hangman, the unfathomable social norms, how long did it take him to figure out how to throw the shield (and how many people did he hit with it during practice), among other things. Phil shook his head.

"No. I just want to get it over with," he answered after some thought. Then, immediately afterwards, he added another thought defensively. "I'm not scared."

"Never said you were," Rogers replied evenly, meeting the striking gaze of the child agent beside him. "I never thought you would be."

"Yeah you did. I'm not that stupid."

"Okay, yeah. I did. Why aren't you, by the way? I would be scared."

"I've had enough crap happen to me that I don't think much else will be able to set me off," Phil muttered lowly and winced as he realized he had just swore. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know how you feel. In fact, I thought that same thing. My best friend had died, Schmidt was still alive, the war was still going, innocent people were dying, and here I was a reformed show business boy. I thought nothing could be worse. Then I got stuck in the ice for 70 years and, let me tell you, that really sucks. It really, _really_ sucks." He looked down at the somber boy and sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that life can always come around to hit you when you're least expecting it." A moment of silence and then...

"How old are you exactly?" The child looked up at him, curiously.

"Ninety-two." Phil frowned slightly at the answer, brain trying to process the number. Steve hesitated, frowning as well. "God, that sounded so weird. That sounded really _really_ weird."

"So you're technically a senior citizen?" Phil piped up, a jibe challenge in his voice, and the super soldier looked down at him out of the corner of his eyes before quickly shoving the boy sideways off the embankment and into the water right below them with a resounding splash.

"WHOA!" Steve just smiled at the indignant wet boy before him as the agent resurfaced. "IT WAS A VALID QUESTION!"

"Excuse me, you're not supposed to be going in the water here, thank you," came a clipped voice from above them and both looked up to see a park ranger looking down on them, not the least amused.

"Sorry about that. I slipped," Phil immediately said and scrambled out of the water, Steve quickly gathering their stuff as they beat a hasty retreat for the tower. "Captain America broke the rules," the boy teased quietly in a sing song voice, and the adult play shoved him with his elbow. "Then again, I sat on Lady Liberty's head today, so I don't think anything beats that in terms of breaking the rules." Steve thought about commenting on that last part, but thought better of it. Instead, he focused on the personal tease directed at himself.

"You were asking for it," he returned and smiled at the hyper child beside him. It was rather funny: bouncing all over the place, wet clothes, wet hair, rosy cheeks, and chattering teeth. It was as if Phil's body couldn't decide whether to curl up and shiver, or run around with boundless energy.

Perfect time to pass him off to Loki: the god would love him for this.

000000

"What _happened?!_" was the first thing Loki heard and he looked up from the chess game with Clint to see Steve walking in with a soaking wet Phil by his side. He decided that he didn't want to know and looked back down to the game, scowling when he saw the archer had taken his rook.

"Steve pushed me into a duck pond and got yelled at by a park ranger. It was funny," the boy said through chattering teeth and Pepper, being Pepper, immediately whisked him off to his room so he could change.

"So, what have you guys been doing with him today?" the woman asked as she walked back into the room. When no one answered, she pointed at Clint. "You start."

"I'm busy," the archer protested playfully, but answered anyways. "We climbed a tree, sat up there, and talked for two hours."

"We sat on top the Torch Woman's head and talked about the New York skyline," Thor continued from where he was busy examining the toaster again. He really found this piece of kitchenware very interesting.

"Thor, you aren't supposed to sit on the Statue of Liberty!" Pepper scolded, but the god simply shrugged. "Bruce?"

"We flew a kite, got it stuck in a tree, and then went to an empty warehouse so he could, uh, say goodbye to the other guy," he muttered, focusing on his lunch as he said the last part.

"Aw, what did he do?" Tony asked, voice sugary, and Bruce glared.

"They played _tag_," the scientist muttered in disbelief and slid the phone over to the billionaire. Pepper made the most elongated "awwwwwwww!" that Bruce had ever heard that wanted him to drop his head into his pasta.

"That is _so_ precious, Bruce!" she cried, smiling, and passed the phone onto the other avengers. "Look at that!" This time, the doctor moved his bowl to the side before allowing his head to hit the granite counter top.

When Phil came back out of his room, he saw all the avengers gathered around a phone, no doubt watching him and the Hulk. Suddenly, Loki's hand was on his shoulder and he looked up to see the god wink briefly at him, violin in one hand, before the world around them vanished to be replaced with a brilliant golden city.

"Where are we?" Phil asked, scared, and clung to Loki's hand.

"We are in the gym of Star Tower," the god explained gently, kneeling beside the boy.

"No. No, we're not."

"We are. It's an illusion I created. We are in the gym, but I am projecting the image of Asgard from my mind into the real world." Phil immediately brightened.

"This is Asgard?" he asked eagerly, running forward. "Wait, will I run into a wall?"

"No. The landscape moves with you. Technically _you_ aren't really moving: your surroundings are. I've only read about this type of magic, but I figured I should give it a try for you."

"I thought your magic was limited," Phil said accusingly and Loki stopped. In truth, it had been. And it was just now that he was realizing he was performing complex, draining magic without feeling any ill side effects.

"I - it was," he said, baffled, and Phil smiled.

"Well, maybe Odin decided to give your magic back. Maybe he saw that you were good. That you wouldn't hurt us."

"Maybe. Well where do you want to go?"

"I don't know, where do you want to go?" Phil asked back and Loki looked taken aback. "You haven't been free in Asgard for a long time. I thought you might want to just roam. Even if this isn't really Asgard," he added as an after thought, and the adult nodded.

"Well, that is the main hall, where Thor, Odin, myself, and my mother would often be together. It's the location for all the realm's major events. Do you wish to go and see it?"

Phil never thought that a place so mystical and so foreign could exist without scaring him or making him nervous. He felt very at ease here, as though it were welcoming and homey. And the change that overcame his companion was as equally striking. Loki ceased to bear that general look of being hunted. He stopped looking over his shoulder in habitual glances for an enemy. And more importantly, a lightness seemed to settle over him that made him look more carefree, younger, happier: how he would have looked when he still believed himself a son of Odin.

"Come, Phil. I wish to show you something," Loki said softly and led the child out of the city, taking him out to the Bifrost. "This is the Bifrost: our means of travel between all the realms. Or, it was, until I destroyed it."

"Why'd you destroy it?" Phil asked him, baffled and Loki didn't answer.

"It's a long story," he finally offered. "One I'd rather not relive."

"Is that really space?" he asked, sitting down so his feet dangled off the edge of the Bifrost.

"Yes." In the silence, Loki sat down beside him and slowly began playing the violin in his idle, almost lamenting way.

"I look at the stars sometimes when I can't sleep..." Phil softly interrupted. "I never imagined that it could ever be this beautiful." He sighed almost wistfully.

"What's wrong?" the god asked him, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"This feels like magic, but I know it's science. People would call this magic, even though it isn't. Why can't people see that wonders like this exist?" the boy asked sadly. "Why don't they _want_ stuff like this to exist? It's so pretty and peaceful." Loki smiled down at him and set the violin down beside him.

"Your ancestors called it magic," he began slowly. "You call it science. I come from a place where they're one and the same thing." He waved his hands and a pencil and paper appeared in his hands as he sketched out a rough drawing of the nine realms.

"What is that?" Phil asked, leaning over to watch the adult's skilled hands move.

"My father explained it to me like this: that the old world is one of the nine realms of the cosmos, linked to each other by the branches of Yggdrasil, the world's tree. Now you see it ever day without realizing that the images glimpsed through the, what did you call it...Hooble telescope - "

"Hubble telescope..." Phil corrected, half paying attention to the correction and more to the new knowledge.

"Hubble telescope," Loki amended, smiling. Phil laughed with him and looked up at the god.

"Tell me more," he pleaded, and Loki looked back to the drawing, smiling.

"So the nine realms...there is Midgard, which is Earth, Elfheim, Anaheim, Jotunheim, and Asgard: where I'm from."

About an hour later, Phil was asleep with his head resting on Loki's lap, and the man sighed as he realized his companion wasn't going to be hyper. For _now_. He closed his eyes and relaxed a hidden tension he had kept in his body, the illusion dropping to reveal the gym once more.

"Two hours spent touring Asgard," came a surprised voice behind him, and Loki turned around to see his brother looking down at him. "I'm surprised you would choose here of all places to take the Son of Coul."

"I do want to go home, Thor," Loki answered in self-defense. "I _do_ want to. And since I may not be able to I wanted him to see that world that I want to return to."

"You know you told him the exact thing I told Jane?" he asked, and Loki smiled in his slight, crooked way.

"I know. I was listening in even then." He looked down at the sleeping boy just as Tony walked in.

"Oh good," the billionaire said, for once _not_ sarcastic. "He's asleep. He can sleep for about an hour of my time. What I want to show him isn't going to take much more than an hour." Loki nodded and gently picked up the boy, carrying him to his room and then laying him down softly in his bed. In a surprising display of tact, Thor grabbed Tony's arm just as the man was raising his cell phone to take a picture and dragged him from the room, shutting the door with a soft click behind him.

"Sleep well, Phil," the god of mischief whispered, pulling the blanket up over the boy's shoulders. At the different touch, Phil's eyes sleepily opened.

"Sorry, Loki. I fell asleep," he mumbled, but Loki shook his head.

"It's alright."

"C'n you sing me a l'llaby?" the child asked into his pillow, speech slurred by his half-awake mind. Loki gave a quick smile and knelt by the side of the bed, gently putting his hand on the boy's head as his eyes closed in sleep once more.

"Sing me to sleep...Sing me to sleep. I'm tired and I...I want to go to bed," the frost giant began, trying to remember the words sung by his bedside so long ago. "Sing me to sleep...sing me to sleep, and then leave me alone. Don't try to wake me in the morning 'cause I will be gone...Don't feel bad for me. I want you to know deep in the cell of my heart, I will feel so glad to go." A slight frown creased the sleeper's forehead, and Loki grabbed his small hand a little tighter as though that could chase away the demons of the night. "Sing me to sleep...sing me to sleep. I don't want to wake up on my own anymore. Sing to me...sing to me. I don't want to wake up, on my own anymore. Don't feel bad for me. I want you to know deep in the cell of my heart, I really want to go. There is another world, there is a better world. Well, there must be. Well, there must be...well, there must be...well, there must be. Well...bye...bye...bye...bye..."

The frown had faded, and Loki sighed in relief that whatever nightmare that had been plaguing him was gone. With that reassurance, he got to his feet and left the room, only to walk right into the rest of the avengers who had been eavesdropping outside.

Inside though, there were no night demons in the little boy's mind: there never had been. Only farewells he didn't want to give.

000000

The next time Phil woke up, it was to a cold wind rushing against his face and he blearily opened his eyes to see a white t-shirt and, beyond that, the night sky. He was wrapped up in a large fleece jacket that _clearly_ wasn't his, and the person carrying him was Steve.

"Tony, I really don't feel like this is a good idea."

"Come on, _grandpa_," Tony protested, voice distorted from the Iron Man suit. "It's not like I'm going to drop him. I've done this before."

"Yeah, with people who were your size. He's a _kid_, Tony! All I'm saying is..."

"Don't drop him?"

"Yeah. And don't let anyone else know where you went with him, okay? I think Banner would throw you off the tower." With that, Phil felt himself passed off into caring metal arms, and he dropped the façade of being asleep.

"Where are we going?" The gold and red head looked down at him.

"Well, look who decided to wake up," the adult teased and held the boy close to him. "I'm taking you to see the world from a different point of view."

"I've been flying before," Phil commented, but Iron Man shook his head.

"Not like this," the adult guaranteed him and something in his voice made Phil frown slightly and he looked down to see the roof of Stark Tower far below them. With something of a startled shout, Phil latched even tighter onto the armor and inside the suit, Tony smiled. "Told you."

"This...is so cool," the boy breathed as they slowly drifted higher into the air. There was something ethereally peaceful about it that made him want to smile and laugh, but he was still too shocked by what was happening to say anything.

"I thought you would like it," the man said, and they continued on in silence. The city in all of its brilliance and bright light shone up at them and reflected on the metal of the suit and glittered in the boy's wondrous eyes. They flew in silence for the longest time before Phil's head finally dropped down onto his shoulder.

"Do you want to head back?"

"Not yet," Phil said softly and continued to watch the city as it drifted past. It was something close to mesmerizing. "I like it up here..."

"So do I," Tony admitted, looking up at the stars. Phil tilted his head back so he could look at his "pilot."

"You would make a good dad, Tony," he said absently and the adult gagged.

"Me? No, _no_ definitely not," he countered, shaking his head, but Phil persisted.

"I mean it. I know Pepper thinks so."

"What are you now, five-year old matchmaker?"

"No...I'm basing stuff off of what I've seen and what I know as an adult," he countered, eliciting a sigh from Tony.

"I'm not going to be talking about this with you," he muttered and Phil smirked. "How did you like today?"

"I really liked it. It was fun...but kind of sad."

"Well, I can make it un-sad very quick," the billionaire said, voice mischievous and suddenly a huge swooping sensation filled Phil's stomach as the Iron Man suit shot up quickly into the air and turned to the side, shooting down towards the ground, tracing the skyline to the coast in a matter of minutes. As they sped across the water, Tony reached over with his free hand to grab Phil's and lead it down to the water. There was a hissing splashing sort of sound as his small fingers broke the surface, sending up a spray into both of their faces.

"Aw, now I can't see!" Tony complained and Phil reached back and tried to wipe the water from the visor. "NO, NO NOT HELPING!" he shouted and managed to flip around so the suit skipped on the water instead of the boy.

"Sorry?" came a hesitant voice from his arms and Tony took a steadying breath.

"Let's just get _away_ from the water? I promised Cap that I would drop you and _that_ was pretty close." Phil smiled as they shot back up into the air, slowing down as they reached a considerable height.

"This was the best day ever," the boy whispered, trying to slow his racing heart. He rested his head against the metal, half expecting it to be cold and being pleasantly surprised when it was more on the warm side. "Makes me excited for the future."

"I'll make sure you have that future, Phil," the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist promised, trying to keep as much emotion out of his voice as possible and failing miserably.

"It's okay if I don't - "

"No! No it's not, are you crazy?!" Tony asked, holding Phil away from him slightly in appall. "Why would you say that?!"

"We had today," the boy whispered softly in response, leaning into the Iron Man suit. Taken aback by the philosophy in that simple answer, Tony looked down at the wind mussed hair. Phil's captivated eyes looked down on the city below with a childlike wonder that made the adult's heart melt.

"Yeah. I guess we did have today," he answered, adequately mellowed, looking out around the night sky. When he looked back down in his arms, the child was fast asleep. "We had today Phil. And with luck, you'll have tomorrow too. And the day after that, and the day after that. But yes..." He looked out around himself one last time before preparing to head back to Stark Tower.

"We had today."

**Now my hands hurt. XD**


	32. Chapter 32: Trust Him

**Okay, head of time apology: Kimbee, Loki Fan 101, and Goddess of Jasper, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry/hurt your feelings/create sadness! _AND_ FANFIC JUST DELETED THIS CHAPTER ON ME! perfect, of course. GAHHHHH!**

When Phil opened his eyes in the morning, it was one of those times where you just happen to wake up but you really don't want to wake up because it's cold outside your little bubble of warm blankets and sheet. With that thought in mind, the boy pulled his pillow over his head and groaned into his mattress. He just wanted to sleep a little more: yesterday had tired him out. He just wanted to sleep...

_Tap. Tap. Taptaptaptap. Tap. Taptap._

"Go away!" Phil moaned into the fabric of his bed and the incessant tapping continued. "GO AWAY, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" The tapping paused for a few blessed seconds, only to start up once more.

_Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap. Taptap. Tap._

"What?!" Phil asked, sitting up and looking around to find no one in the room with him. It was barely sunrise and the gentle light from outside cast everything in his room with a strange light shadow. "Hello?" he asked, voice suddenly small. "Who's there?"

_Tap._

Phil jumped and looked in the direction of his window, the source of that peculiar tapping noise. And smiled.

Bird song filled the room again and that _same_ small bird was perched on the window sill, pecking at the window and chirping incessantly.

"You're back soon," he told it softly, and the bird stopped pecking momentarily, looking at him. "How are you doing?" The small serene bird captivated him, just as it had before, staring at him with its small, intelligent eyes. After a long moment of silence, the bird opened its mouth and chirped, just as it had so long ago. This time though, Phil just smiled at it and tried to imitate the sound, which came out as a failure.

"It's a Pine Warbler returning from migration, right J.A.R.V.I.S?" Phil asked and the AI confirmed his statement.

"It is 49 degrees Fahrenheit outside, 5:30 am. Good morning, Phil." Phil swung himself out of bed and left his room, walking over to the now fixed window that had been shattered what seemed like years ago. The city was slowly waking up under the rising sun and it proved to be very interesting to watch as the streets slowly became more and more crowded, the roads more and more busy. He looked up briefly as Pepper walked out of her and Tony's room and came over to sit beside him.

"How are you doing, Phil?"

"I'm good. People are like ants." Pepper coughed to hide her laugh at how matter-of-factly he said that.

"What makes you say that?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Well, everyone has a job and then when it's time for them to go do that job they kinda just wander around and do it. They don't really think about anything else, they just mill around aimlessly. Like ants."

"So I guess Loki's analogy of us being ants was correct," she mused and Phil nodded.

"It was kinda mean, but it was true. We're so easy to step on that it's kinda sad," he commented and began drawing faces in the window. "I"m hungry."

"I was just going to make breakfast," Pepper said, smiling and began heading for the kitchen, Phil tagging along behind her.

"Can I help?"

"Of course," the woman answered and pulled a stool over to the counter so he could be at the same height as her. "Why do you suddenly have an interest in helping me cook?"

"Because the only other experience I had was trying to help _Loki_ cook," the boy answered seriously and then grinned. "It was really funny. He almost _blew_ up the kitchen!"

"Okay, Loki is no longer allowed in the kitchen, agreed?" she asked him pointedly and he nodded emphatically.

"If we want to go to bed and wake up in every morning, definitely not," Phil agreed and soon became the little pack mule of the kitchen, grabbing whatever it was that Pepper needed and carrying it over to where she wanted it. The adult had to pause a moment and marvel at the amazing balance, speed, and efficiency that he did everything at.

"Phil, did you help your mom a lot with the cooking?" she asked, forgetting momentarily what his childhood had been like. Phil shrugged.

"When I could, yeah. But often times I was up in my room, outside, or at school when she was cooking."

"Well, I'm sure you were a little helper because you are amazing at getting things done quickly," she complimented him and he looked up at her.

"I learned to do that because my dad existed."

"Oh." Right, idiot. "Well, um...I'm sure your mom appreciated it." Phil didn't answer but pulled nine plates out of the cabinet and walked over to the table with them, balancing them all on his head in an effort to entertain himself. But he was so focused on what was above him that he wasn't watching what was below him and he caught his foot on the corner of the island and fell forward, plates heading for a shattering impact with the ground.

Only to have two hands stop them just before they hit the ground.

"Thanks, Bruce," he sighed and flopped down on the ground when he realized it was nice and warm due to the heat vent being right beside it.

"Phil are you okay?" Pepper asked hurrying over when she saw that he wasn't moving.

"Yeah. The ground's just nice and warm," he commented, voice muffled by the harwood.

"Well, why don't you go and move over to that vent over there, because I need to cook..." Pepper began, and the boy immediately scampered to his feet and ran for the other vent, sliding across the floor to huddle by the vent.

"Are you okay?" Banner asked, setting the plates down before walking over to sit beside the boy. He was staring distantly at something only he could seem to see and appeared to be listening to the floor. "Phil?" No answer. "Helloooo, anyone in there?"

"Can't you hear it?" the boy finally asked, looking up and fixing his gaze on the doctor.

"Hear what?"

"Listen..." he whispered, tapping the ground. Frowning slightly, Bruce rested his head on the floor and his brow furrowed. There was a strange whispering, pulsating sound coming from the ground almost...it seemed familiar, but he couldn't -

"_Who_ is handling the Tesseract?" came a disheveled voice, and both Phil and Banner looked up sharply to see Loki standing in the doorway, sheet still haphazardly wrapped about his body and hair sticking ever which way. It would have been comical had the god not just said something that meant a death sentence.

"That noise is the _Tesseract_?" Banner asked and soon he and Phil were running for the lab, the doctor out of fear, the boy out of curiosity.

"What else did you think it was?" Loki called after them and stumbled forwards, mind still not comprehending that the bed sheet was still tangled about his tall frame.

Tony woke up to the words "Who is handling the Tesseract" and decided that that was not the way to wake up in the morning. No one wanted to hear that a psychotic cube thing was being handled by a probably psychotic person. Especially not in his Tower. And especially not at...what was this madness?! 5:30 in the morning!? No. No one woke him up this early. He scrambled out of bed and threw his door open only to hear something suspiciously close to a crack when his door hit something that _clearly_ wasn't air.

The resounding crash as Loki fell over backwards with a bloody nose and ringing head woke everyone else, and Tony stuck his head slowly around his door to look on with a complete lack of apology.

"What'd you do go and do _that_ for?" he asked as though the god was stupid, and Loki tried to glare, but stopped when it gave him a headache and made him go cross-eyed.

"_You_ slammed the door into my face, not me..." he protested, frowning as he began to lose feeling in his face.

"Uh, no Rock of Ages I'm pretty sure you walked into my door as I was opening it," the billionaire said pointedly and Loki gave up as Thor grabbed him and hauled him to his feet.

"No, Tony. I have to agree with Loki on this one," Steve commented dryly from behind the two siblings, and Tony shrugged as though it were of no consequence to him. After all, why should he care?

"Brother, are you okay?"

"M' head's buzzin' an' m' face 's a bit numb, bu' o'her tha' that I'm oka'," the younger sibling said, voice slightly distorted as he worked his facial muscles in an effort to retain some sort of feeling.

"Well, glad you didn't kill yourself. Now I'm going to go see what's going on with the Tesseract if you don't mind."

"WHAT?!" Thor bellowed, ditching his dazed sibling to go racing for the lab.

"What do you mean _what's_ _going_ _on_ _with_ _the_ _Tesseract_?" Steve asked as though it were an unacceptable concept.

"Tony, what did you do?" Romanoff. Of course everyone present fell silent and looked at the half-awake scientist with the same question in their eyes.

"I didn't do anything! Why does everyone think everything's me?!"

"Because it _usually_ is," Barton answered as they all hurried to the lab. "Nice shot though with Loki - "

"I heard that," growled a rather annoyed voice and Barton looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, you're _here_." The god scowled as the agent showed no sign of remorse for his comment but soon forgot about that when they all crammed into the lab where Banner was scratching his head in bafflement.

"What's wrong?" Nat asked and he shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just..."

"Spazzing?" Phil suggested and the Hulk nodded.

"Basically." The Tesseract was wildly throwing off light, making loud noises, and otherwise being harmlessly disruptive.

"Well, can you make it stop spazzing?" Tony asked peeved. "I don't want to be woken up before ten because ice cube there is _spazzing_."

"Well unless Thor or Loki can do something about it, it's going to _spazz_, Tony. Sorry, I'm not a miracle worker," the scientist said and was walking for the door when Phil asked the question.

"Is that it?" Everyone looked to where Phil was pointing. It was that weird contraption thing that _still_ looked like something out of _The Prestige._ It had changed since the last time he saw it, he realized. There were a lot more port things for what appeared to be electrical current or something like that. Though, knowing Stark, it would be arc reactor...stuff. They had certainly refined the process as was obvious by the polished look to everything but that dreaded dentist's office chair was still there.

"Yeah. Why don't we talk about that - "

"Can we do it now instead?" Phil asked suddenly, turning to face them. "Look, the Tesseract is starting to act up. You aren't going to want to have to worry about some kid getting in the way. If I was an adult I could help." Romanoff and Barton looked at each other and nodded.

"Sounds logical to me," the archer answered and Banner looked flustered.

"Well, it is your decision, but I would recommend - "

"Bruce, please. I just want to get this over with." Banner sighed and nodded.

"If you want to do it, we can. We just need to warm up the program and the systems."

"Hey, can we all vote on this?" Tony asked, and everyone looked at him a little taken aback. It wasn't like the billionaire to be this concerned about something, even if it was with Phil.

"Tony, it's _his_ life," Steve commented softly. "If he wants to go ahead, let him."

"It _is_ the Son of Coul's decision," Thor agreed, and Loki interjected with his opinion.

"I see where Tony is coming from. Fear."

"I'm not _scared_, Reindeer Games!"

"Can you _all_ get a grip!" came a new voice and they looked around to see Pepper standing on the steps. "Please, no fighting. Not today, not right now. Can we just find a humane way of doing this?" After a moment of shamed silence, Tony moved forward and squatted before the boy.

"Can we give you a sedative, Phil? It will knock you clean out so if anything bad does happen you won't feel anything. We can control at least that." Phil looked seriously at the man before him and nodded. "Okay. We'll take care of that right now. Um, you _may_ want to go get clothes much larger than the ones you're wearing now so you have something to change into when this is over..."

"Here, you can borrow some of my sweats," Steve offered and quickly left the room, bad memories washing over him. He had to leave that room at least for a little bit. When he returned Phil had already seated himself in the reclined chair and was staring at the ceiling with a complete lack of emotion on his face. However, his cool exterior was betrayed by the nervous tapping of his fingers on the arm rest.

"You ready for this?" Barton asked, clapping the boy on the shoulder in his form of encouragement.

"I think..."

"Well, that's better than any of us would be in your situation," Loki commented, earning strange glances from his companions. "What?"

"Nothing, that just sounded weird coming from you," Nat commented slowly, as though trying to process the thought in her head. Phil watched in mild trepidation as Banner approached with the needle, preparing the tranquilizer. He looked around at the ring of faces about him and swallowed. Loki looked scared even though he was trying to hide it. Thor looked oblivious to everything (when was he not?). Banner had his doctor mask on so he couldn't decipher anything though he did get a brief smile of comfort. Pepper was kindly smiling down at him in her protective motherly way, waiting and bracing, it seemed, for the worst. Tony look like he was praying for this to work with every fiber of his body to a god that he didn't even believe in. Nat and Clint were just standing there, being them, and that was the biggest comfort of all. No, Steve was. Definitely Steve, he reflected as he realized that the super soldier was gently holding his hand.

There was a gentle pressure on the crook of his arm, a sharp pain, and everything started to slowly fade.

"I _hate_ shots. Next time this happens, try and figure out a different way to fix it, thanks," Phil muttered and was relieved to hear a general laughter about him before everything went black.

000000

"His vital signs are holding steady," Banner commented from over by his station and looked over at Tony. "You ready for this?"

"How long will that sedative keep him under?" Steve interrupted and Tony took the time to patiently answer.

"It should keep him under for about half an hour. And I mean really under. If this works, he'll be completely out of whack for about five - ten minutes after that." The billionaire paused as he set up a few more systems. "Might be funny to record him when he's like that..."

"Tony," Pepper warned and her boyfriend held up his hands defensively.

"I'm joking, relax. I've got enough black mail on him to last a life time."

"I think multiple lifetimes may be more accurate," Loki commented and the others made varying gestures and nosies of agreement.

"Well, I think that we are..._just_ about - " Banner's voice was cut off with a massive whine of dying electric power as everything went dark. "Not. Again." When the silence continued, the doctor got really annoyed. "Tony!"

"J.A.R.V.I.S!" Tony called. "This _really_ isn't the greatest time for this. What's going on, have you got a bug?" There was no response from his AI, and a general feeling of foreboding settled over the room. "J.A.R.V.I.S? Hello?"

Suddenly, there was a loud squealing, shrieking noise that clearly sounded like one of alarm and warning. The Tesseract seemed to pulsate and blaze with a bright light and Loki stood up in fear.

"Loki?" Thor asked but his brother held a hand up to stop anyone from talking.

"They're here..." he whispered, a fear that everyone in the room hadn't heard in a very, very long time.

"Loki..." Romanoff began, feeling very uneasy. "What is going - "

A loud roar shattered the air and the whole building shook with a large impact. The sound of shattering glass, breaking metal, and general catastrophe reached their ears, and the Tesseract emitted a large, prolonged burst of light.

"Thank you," Loki said, addressing the cube. His companions looked at him and saw how drawn his face looked. "Thanos. He's found me."

"What are we supposed to do with Phil?!" Pepper shouted at Tony as her boyfriend pulled the portable Iron Man suit out of its drawer.

"Just let him sleep, I don't know!" the genius shouted and suited up. "I didn't expect for this to happen!"

"Tony, how do you expect us to get to our uniforms and weaponry?" Clint asked, situation making his tone angry.

_"_I can teleport you. Of course it would require that I use the Tesseract." Everyone looked at Loki with a sudden distrust that made the man's heart sink. "Not now. Come on, you've trusted me this far! Have I done anything to betray that trust?!"

"Well, you have brought Thanos down on us a few times," Steve commented, and mentally added and you've hurt Phil in ways not limited to physical pain.

"How about with Phil? He is basically the child of the Avengers in a sense! Have I ever done anything but help him - a - and save him, might I add?" He threw his hands up in frustration. "I have had full control of my powers for some time now! Have I ever caused any irreparable damage to any of you?" Another impact shook the tower. "Listen to me, I can get you to where you need to be! I can teleport us out of this country if needed, though I would have to do it in groups." Another impact.

"Tony, whatever that is, it's getting closer," Pepper said, voice tight.

"I can help! I've always been able to help and you've always let me! Let me help you now!" Another impact.

"Let him help, Metal Man. My brother is skilled with magic and, armed with the Tesseract, he could be a great asset." Still the other Avengers hesitated. "We don't have much time. We must give it to him!"

"TONY, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, GIVE HIM THE TESSERACT OR I WILL!" Everyone looked over from where they had been watching Loki and Thor closely to Pepper, who was holding the encased object of discussion in her hands. "He has done nothing but help us. Now look at you all! Trust him!"

"I'm even a little uneasy about - " Banner began and Pepper had had enough.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" she screamed and threw the object over to Loki who caught it and immediately seemed to brace himself. They watched in mild fascinated horror as the world around them seemed to swirl in and out of existence finally landing them in their team armory.

"What do you know? You actually were telling the truth," Tony commented and looked over to Loki. "Whoa, hello. Look who's back." Loki looked around at them from under his helmet, dressed in his full battle armor.

"Thank goodness Phil isn't here," the god muttered and held out his hand, focusing on it.

"Why?" Clint asked, and he and Steve gaped as the god's scepter materialized in his outstretched hand.

"Because he would say cool and then ask a lot of questions."

"Wait, where's Pepper?!" Tony asked, freaking out an looking around himself like the world was ending.

"Don't worry. She is safe in the lab hiding with Phil," the god commented and experimentally blasted a hole in the wall to reveal a very startled group of Chitauri. "We have more important things to worry about now it seems..."

000000

"Okay, okay, I think that should work," Pepper said fretfully to herself as she finished pushing all of the tables, tool chests, chairs, anything that _wasn't_ the experiment vital to Phil's restoration you could say, against the doors leading into the lab. It had taken her a while in the dark to find where everything was, especially with J.A.R.V.I.S. knocked out, though Dummy had been of extreme help and was now acting as a watch dog for the sleeping child.

"Good boy, Dummy," she whispered as she sat down beside the robot and put an arm around it. That was a clear sign that she was losing it, she decided. She was talking to a robot and treating it like a dog. But when Dummy bowed it's "head" and gently knocked against her, she decided that maybe she wasn't all that crazy. "Good boy."

She shivered in the dark and reached up to hold Phil's hand. This was going to be a very harrowing experience. She just wished that the AI -

"Ms. P-potts," came a broken sort of voice filled with jumps in pitch and volume as J.A.R.V.I.S's programming slowly started to reboot.

"Oh thank goodness."

"Emer...gency pro-toc...one...nstated...Oper-tion Rescue." A door slid open to reveal a brightened cache in the wall, probably run on its own emergency generator. Pepper stood in a completely taken aback way, staring in a _no-no-no-no_ total denial expression.

"You _have_ _got_ to be joking."

She got to her feet and stood before the figure in the room, slowly extending a hand to let her fingers brush against the cold exterior.

Rescue.

"I'm not doing this!" she said firmly, backing away but stopped when she heard another loud bang and looked over to the dimly outlined figure of the sleeping Phil Coulson. She looked back at the mask staring straight at her.

Well, someone was going to have to rescue them, she told herself and started the process narrator to her by the AI.


	33. Chapter 33: Four Times

**For those of you wondering, Rescue is an actual Marvel creation that I _didn't_ make up. It's Pepper's Iron Man suit that Tony made for her. Whoops, that was kinda a spoiler. :P**

"I really don't think this is going to work," Pepper said, voice tense.

"Mr. Stark has instructed me to assure you that this is very safe and will function perfectly. He has even created his own auditory tutorial for the suit's use - "

"J.A.R.V.I.S." The AI stopped. "Is this safe for someone who has never done this before?"

"Well, Mr. Stark crashed several times - "

"Thank you so much for that," she interrupted and fought to keep her breathing under control as she experimentally tried to lift herself off the ground. Nothing happened and then -

Pepper gave a startled scream as the repulsors fired at full strength and sent her rocketing off the ground to slam painfully into the ceiling before crashing back to the floor.

"Perhaps you should use the tutorial, Ms. Potts..."

"Fine! I'm just saying that if Tony left a sarcastic tutorial I'm going to kill him. Like, legitimately, I will kill him when this is all over."

_Hello, Pep! Well, seems like life has decided to suck and that means I've sprung this suit on you without any background or any information on it at all. First off it is called Rescue and _no_ we cannot change the name and _no_ you cannot get rid of it. _Pepper rolled her eyes. This tutorial was already shaping out to be everything she had hoped it would be. _Well, if I know you at all, you're going to be in a dangerous situation listening to this thing and telling yourself that you wish you could just lop my head off my shoulders because it is so annoying. However that is in fact a good thing because, tell me, are you thinking about the fact that at any moment you could be killed or are you thinking _Tony I am going to kill you_? You should be thinking about the second one because that means you aren't going to be screaming and flailing your arms all over the place like a bit of a useless chick, which no offense you kinda do in dangerous situations. ANYWAYS - god I really hope I die after this so I don't have to deal with you trying to tear my head off about this tutorial -_

"J.A.R.V.I.S. is there any way that I can skip this and just get to the tutorial on how to use this thing?!"

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Potts..." the computer responded, slightly wistfully. "Though I pity you and wish that I could."

"Since when do you have pity?"

"Since Doctor Banner reinstated my morality coding."

"Well, remind me to thank Bruce for that." Reluctantly Pepper tuned back into Tony's voice going on and on in her ear.

_Now, I will try and make this as simple and straightforward for you as possible because you will probably be like Capsicle and ask me to speak English every two words if I used the _actual_ and _proper_ terminology -_

"Tony, you are so dead," she muttered and focused once more.

000000

There was a strange sort of faint crackling noise that Thor knew well from his time as a young man on Asgard as Loki, instead of using the staff, threw his hand forward, and the Chitauri before them were blasted into oblivion with the younger sibling's magic.

"It is good to have you back, brother," Thor said with a grin and threw his hammer after a fleeing alien sprinting down the hall away from them.

"I was never really gone."

"Alright, can we save this cheesy god dialogue for another time?!" came Tony's annoyed voice as the man flew past them in his Iron Man suit. "I'd really appreciate it if we rounded up these morons and blasted them from the face of the earth before lunch and - WHOA!"

Stark was hurled back into the room to crash painfully into the wall.

"That was a big one...Banner?" Before he had finished his question, the Hulk went tearing through the walls to chase down the large flock of intruders waiting in the next room.

"Is this even really going to be a problem?" Steve asked as the Hulk came back, grinning in a way that told them that the situation was solved. "J.A.R.V.I.S. how many Chitauri are in Stark Tower?"

"There are thirty more Chitauri in and around the Tower, though there is one of the worm creatures carrying fifteen of the thirty Chitauri hovering above the infrastructure - "

"NOT AGAIN! POINT BREAK, BIG GUY, YOU'RE WITH ME!" Tony shouted and shot up through the roof to take on the creature outside, Thor hurrying to accompany him along with the Hulk. "BRING IT ON SKY WORM!" Steve tried to fathom what had gotten into the billionaire and decided it was just the desperation of not wanting anything to be destroyed this time and being thoroughly tired and done with these foreign visitors.

" - and Thanos along with the remaining fifteen Chitauri are converging on the science lab." That got everyone's attention, and Clint looked at the others.

"He must think that Loki and the Tesseract are in there," the archer explained and Thor

"Or he's looking for leverage," Romanoff offered, voice serious and clearly saying that she hoped she was wrong but she probably wasn't.

She wasn't.

000000

"J.A.R.V.I.S. please tell me that's Bruce!"

"I'm afraid that is five Chitaur - "

"_J.A.R.V.I.S!_" she cried in exasperation as though it was the AI's fault for their present situation.

"Yes, Ms. Potts?"

"DO SOMETHING!"

"You are in the Iron Man suit, not me."

"Who gave you a sense of humor?! There's a time and place for it!"

"I believe that was Mr. Stark - " There was a loud crack noise and several of the heavy containers she had pushed into the doorway toppled onto the floor and daylight shone through the cracks in the thick metal of the door. "Do you require a review of the suit's controls?"

Pepper never got the chance to answer as one of the aliens reared its ugly head in the hole in the door. Pepper raised her hand, closed her eyes and fired the repulsor, giving a slight scream as she did so, flying easily twenty feet back to the far side of the room due to the backfire. However, she accomplished her task since no monster came crawling through the widening hole in the wall.

This was going to be interesting, she thought wryly as she pushed herself back up and flew relatively well over to her destination: right before her sleeping partner. Those ugly bastards weren't seeing the light of day, she told herself firmly and growled in motherly protection as she fired another repulsor beam, not falling over this time.

No one was getting in here while she was in charge.

000000

Meanwhile, things were going relatively well upstairs.

The Chitauri seemed to have adapted their methodology of armoring the sky worm things so it was considerably harder to actually penetrate the plated metal to kill the monster. The Hulk was punching the weak spots and eliciting angry roars from his victim while Tony was arguing with J.A.R.V.I.S. about whether or not another Jonah Attack would work. The AI of course said it wouldn't because there seemed to be internal modifications for the cybernetic beat, but Tony being Tony said you would never know until you tried.

Thor was throwing his hammer left and right to practically no avail. His lighting strike was utterly useless because _every time_ he thought the skies would be clear some idiot passenger plane would get in his way and he couldn't fill the sky with electrical charge unless he wanted to be running around catching falling airplanes.

Romanoff and Steve were hunting down stray Chitauri in the Tower while Loki and Clint were aerially attacking the sky worm with their magic and arrows respectively. Surprisingly the public was relatively under control.

Relatively being a relative term seeing as their panicked screams were carrying up to the Avengers in their preoccupied state. But nothing was falling on the city causing irreparable damage and that was what Tony called a result. What was equally surprising, if not more so, was the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. had not yet shown up with angina and panic attacks aplenty at the ruckus their superhero team was causing yet again.

And what was even more surprising to Steve as he prowled the halls was that Thanos was yet to make an appearance. The man - could you technically call him a man? the super soldier idly wondered - was incredibly vain and as far as they could tell loved dramatic entrances...

And yet so far there had been a clear lack of any such actions. It was almost as though the thing wasn't even there. Thing, Steve decided. He would call Thanos a thing.

He rounded the corner to come face to face with a Chitauri that promptly turned the other way and ran, Steve giving pursuit. However, the creature he had been chasing soon squealed as it saw the shield flying for its head only to have said head roll across the floor seconds later.

000000

"Romanoff, go into my R&D lab!" Tony shouted as he repeatedly body slammed the worm to no effect.

"Why?" she asked, tone clearly saying she was going to do no such thing.

"Don't give me your sass right now, I just need you to go in there! I made a sort of speeder thing modeled after the Chitauri speeder things. I want you and Rogers to get on one and fly out here. I want you to do a kamikaze dive right into the thing's mouth - "

"I'M NOT DYING _FOR_ YOU TONY! YOU WANT TO SWAN DIVE INTO THAT THING'S MOUTH YOU DO IT YOURSELF!" came the Russian's aggravated shout, and the billionaire rolled his eyes.

"No, my darling _idiot_! I want you and Cap to jump off just _before_ it hits. Don't worry about who will catch you, I'm sure someone will though it really wouldn't be that much of a tragedy I never saw either of you ag - "

"We're _on it_ Tony," Steve said pointedly and dragged Nat off towards R&D, passing by Phil's room in the process. As soon as they had entered the elevator, doors closing and sending them on their way, the boy's bedroom door slammed open and a very angry Thanos marched out, looking ready to kill something. His leverage was gone. Where was his leverage?!

That was when he saw the Chitauri trying to enter the barricaded lab and the repulsor beams easily vaporizing them as they did so.

So _that_ was where his leverage was.

000000

"J.A.R.V.I.S. tie me in with Tony's com system!" Pepper ordered, voice triumphant as she realized she could do that.

"I believe you are now connected, Ms. Potts -"

"TONY, YOU'RE DEAD!"

The billionaire started and fell several feet in the sky at the shout in his ear.

"Oh! Hey Pep, how's everything going with the new suit?"

"How do you think?!"

"I take it that it's going just as I planned - "

"Tony, I have Chitauri breaking in here, I don't know what to do!"

"Well, just light them up as they - "

"I _MEAN_ it Tony!"

"All right, all right! Chill, I'm sending Reindeer Games in to you. You'll be fi - " The line went dead.

"Pepper? Pepper!" Tony asked, voice rising in panic. "Loki, do your teleport thing to the lab, make sure that Pepper and Phil are safe!" Loki looked up uncomprehending at the figure hovering a few feet above his head. "I just lost contact."

The Norse god met his eyes and nodded once before seeming to brace himself. A second later he winked out of existence.

000000

"Tony?" Pepper asked and shivered as the room seemed to grow cold. "Tony!?" There was a low laugh from outside and the woman realized what had just happened and how doomed she really was. She shoved Dummy into one of the cabinets, gingerly lifted Phil off the bed and held him close. Taking several deep breaths to steel herself for what she planned to do next, she shot up to the ceiling, arm extended above herself with her hand in a fist.

She really hoped this worked.

And as she was coated in a rain of dust and dirt and plaster, she decided it had. Pepper guided the suit clumsily over to the hallway, dropped to the ground and ran into Phil's room, setting the boy down on his bed and drawing the covers up over him. Twenty minutes. It had been twenty minutes since he had been administered the dose of medicine, he would wake up in another ten, she realized as she closed the door and pulled the desk and dresser in front of the it to hold it shut. Then, after casting one more glance at the sleeping child, she opened the window and flew out of it, body barely fitting through the gap in the wall. She had to find Loki and tell him where Phil was. Because there was no way that she alone would be able to stand against Thanos when that monster came knocking.

000000

"Pepper, where are you?" Loki called in the dusty darkness, searching the lab furtively by the light of his scepter. There was no one to answer his calls and it was making him very nervous. "J.A.R.V.I.S?"

"Yes, Mr. Laufeyson?"

"Where are Pepper and Phil?" he asked the AI and heaved a sigh of relief when the voice told him where the two were. "Are they safe?"

"There are approximately ten Chitauri heading in Phil's direction. Ms. Potts is outside – " Loki raised his weapon and blasted a hole in the already damaged door, opening a gap wide enough for him to slip through. As soon as his feet touched the ground on the other side, he was running, swinging his staff in murderous arcs down on the five Chitauri he encountered in the halls. No one was going to touch Phil. However, he stopped just as he saw the Chitauri standing in front of his destination, snarling and hissing at him. Raising his hands to shoulder height, the god approached, devious mind racing.

"I will go back with you," he finally said, gut clenching as he said the words and mouth going dry. "Step away from that room…and I will go with you without any measure of resistance. There was a series of chittering and hissing. "I give you my word as an Asgardian. Here…" he dropped his scepter on the ground and gestured for his opponents to come and pick it up. Warily, they did, expecting a surprise attack at any moment. However, there was none and they experimentally made jabbing gestures towards him with their weapons, hoping to entice the god into revealing his surprise attack and giving them the opening they needed to kill him. But there was none, save an equally wary gaze set upon themselves. That was when one of them fired their weapons for real and Loki crashed painfully into the wall, lying stunned in a heap on the floor. He was dazed and felt as though his whole body were numb and paralyzed from the impact.

So it was that he blearily watched in uncomprehending silence as the Chitauri kicked open the door and entered, slamming it shut once more. The angry cries of the Chitauri from behind the closed door reverberated in the man's head and he gathered his strength, vanishing from his prostrate position on the cold, unforgiving floor. But when he reappeared in the boy's room, between Phil's bed and the aliens, his heart dropped.

The bed was empty, blankets sloppily thrown about the mattress and the floor. He was gone. _Gone. _

_This is the end, Laufeyson…four times. Four times, four times, four times, _a voice chanted, sing-songy, in his head and he shuddered despite his best efforts. _The end is nigh…_The menacing statement was said mockingly and ended with a low, sinister laugh.

"J.A.R.V.I.S," he weakly said, trying to keep himself under control. "Is Phil alive?"

"Yes." Loki's heart suddenly blazed with anger, and he unexpectedly threw a bolt of magic at one of the killers, disintegrating him.

"What have you done with him?!" he growled, preparing one more ball of magic in his right hand while his left became a blade of ice. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Still no answer save snarls. With an angry yell, Loki brought his magic and ice scything down on his opponents, anger and hatred burning in him. One, two, three, four went down with shrieking cries of animalistic fear. He felt himself taking pleasure in the sound as he had so long ago.

"You will _never_ take me back!" Loki snarled, voice dangerously low, and stabbed the final Chitauri in the tower with his scepter, pleasure growing even more in him as he watched the alien collapse on the ground, the last of its body blasted into nothingness. Silence reigned and the Norse god sighed in an attempt to bring himself under control. Phil was alive, that much was certain. He wasn't in the bed though, and he wasn't in the room. Resting on his scepter as though it were actually a staff, he tried to think. Where would Phil be?

It may have been a higher power, a Fate, perhaps, but a voice seemed to whisper in his mind, a short few lines of prose drifting through his head. Why was that prophecy playing? No one had hurt him yet. No one had even come close to killing him. Adrenaline raced through his body as he looked over his shoulder in an attempt to identify the source, helmet creating a blind spot before him; he was alone, the tower was secure, and _no one had killed him yet_. He took another deep breath. Maybe Thor was right: maybe prophecies could be -

The God of Mischief could clearly hear his own breath come whooshing out of his body as if it were someone else's and he looked down in disbelief at the large spear impaled in his chest up to the hilt, having punched through his armor as though it were butter. Barely able to breath through the pain, Loki looked up at the tall, sneering form of Thanos before him and knew he had lost.

**A/N: Oh, aren't I just evil? **


	34. Chapter 34: The Song Has Ended

**A/N: My friend yelled at me to put a tissue box warning on this chapter... **

"Did you really believe what your brother had said?" Thanos growled at the pathetically weak god before him. "Did you really think you could escape me? Did you really think you could escape _Death_?" Pain radiated from Loki's chest and his back at every breath, and he no doubt would have collapsed on the wall had Thanos' spear not been holding him upright. The sharpness of the agony made his numb fingers drop his own weapon, the scepter clattering to the floor and Thanos sneered at his victim's last moments. _Brother, Tony, Bruce...Natasha, Clint, Pepper...Phil...I'm sorry_, he thought. He had been taken down just as his mother had foreseen, and there was nothing he could do about it now. There never had been, he realized with a chill. Suddenly, his mind sprang into action at Thanos' sadistic laughter. No. He would not go down without one last fight. One last..._prank_.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Loki raised his head from where he had been watching the blood, _his_ blood, pour from his injury and stood up as tall as he could, wincing as the thick metal pulled at his wound.

"No," he gasped painfully. "I _knew_ i couldn't escape Death." He brought his hands up to waist height. "But i knew i could bring Death _down with me__ to burn in the very depths of hell!_" he spat and with a few waves of his red stained hands, the Tesseract, the object that had been at the crux of everything from the start, blazed in his grasp and he thrust it into Thanos's own startled hands.

The bright burning of the energy source began to increase and the sounds of anger rose from it, increasing with intensity when it wasn't dropped by the mortal who dared hold it. The tesseract had _never_ liked to be touched, and Loki knew it. As apparently did his opponent. Thanos shouted in angry disbelief as the Norse God dropped the protective clamps he had used to grasp it, and the mortally wounded man watched as, with a roar of fearful rage, Thanos disintegrated on the spot, vanishing as Schmidt had so many decades prior. The blue cube fell to the floor and slowly burned its way through the metal plating, falling to the next floor and doing the same until it vanished into the earth, where it would remain for a very, very long time.

It was done.

Loki took in several shaky breaths, knees nearly buckling as he grasped the handle of Thanos' spear and started pulling it out of his body. He grit his teeth but cried out in pain nonetheless as it came free, clattering to the floor. He gasped with the near unbearable agony, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground against the dresser, trying to take air into his lungs and failing dismally. He coughed long and hard, still breathing heavily, looking around for someone, anyone around him to help. But there was no one, and he slowly slumped against the cold wall, thinking over what had led up to this.

Until you save him four times...what was he missing? It _should_ all be so_ obvious_ now. Who had he saved, though? Who was he bleeding out on this cold, unforgiving metal for?

"Loki?" came a scared, small voice and he looked over at the base of the bed, where he saw Phil was hiding. That was when it had clicked. Of course it had been half an hour since the boy had been administered the drug. He had woken up, heard the Chitauri outside, and hid underneath the bed. That was why they had been so angry when he had come in, why they had been approaching the bed in preparation to search it. His moment of epiphany over, the man realized what this boy, this child he had grown to care so much for, was about to witness. Oh god _no_...he begged. Not Phil. Not now. "Loki?" He almost smiled for the boy's sake, but the direness of his situation was preventing him from doing so.

"Hey," he said, slowly reaching a hand out to the trembling boy. "Hey, it's okay. You can come out now." Phil crawled out and came to stop by him.

"You're hurt," Phil said, pointing to the bloody gash in his chest. Loki nodded weakly, and the boy ran to Natasha's bed, dragging a blanket from it. "Here." And with a very serious, worried face too mature for his age, he covered the alien gently. "You'll be okay. Tasha always does this for me when I'm hurt. It always makes me feel better."

"How did I do?" Loki asked, ignoring the boy's faith in his survival and the growing cold in his extremities.

"You were awesome! You beat up all the aliens. And the way you killed that last guy..." Phil said, almost with young excitement as he remembered how the Norse god had defeated them all with ease. "You saved me. That weird thing that Chitani or whatever you call it was about to pull me out from under the bed," he whispered after falling quiet for a few moments. "You _are_ a good guy." Loki shook his head.

"No. No, I'm not a good guy." He paused and continued. "Phil, you remember. You remember it all...I came here to destroy, to annihilate, to dictate. I nearly killed you, and did kill so many others." His eyes smarted with tears that he could see reciprocated in the boy's stern gaze. However, unlike the adult, Phil's did not fall. They were held back by something that could only be described as sheer willpower. "I'm _not_ a good guy."

"I know. I remembered what happened on the helicarrier. I remember everything...But...people can change, right?" he asked softly, hopefully, holding the god's hand in comfort. "I don't care what you _did_. How about now? You can change. You _have_ changed."

"No. People like me can't change. We can only do things right once in a while," Loki responded, wincing as another wave of pain hit him. Phil's scared eyes watched him in uncomprehending horror as he rose slightly from the wall, his pain written in his face as clear as day. "I'm not the good guy in this story," he finally managed. "I never was. I'm the hero forced down the villains path, little one. Always have been, and always...will be." The god fell silent and took a sharp breath, fighting to stay alive for the boy's sake. He looked down at Phil as he felt his body growing cold and his mind faded. There was something in those innocent, wide eyes that yelled at him to realize something.

"Oh..." he breathed, understanding dawning in his eyes. "It was you." Phil frowned, uncomprehending.

The glass shattered.

The fishing net tangled.

The car nearly hit that small, fragile body before him.

The Chitauri he had just killed in this room stood hunched over, about to stab under the bed with his spear.

All those moments flashed before his eyes. Every time he had been there. And it had been worth it.

A soft smile ghosted over the god's lips as he reached up to gently place his hand around the back of Phil's head in a gesture of compassion.

"It was you..." he sighed softly and slowly fell still. His arm fell from the boy's head and thudded with a dull _thunk_ on the ground, lying there as limply as the rest of his body.

"Loki? Loki?" Phil asked, going up on his knees to look the god in the face. "Loki!" The blank stare of the eyes and still chest baffled him and he slowly sat down on the ground by the god, looking at the man beside him. "I'll stay with you. Like Captain America says, no man left behind."

"Reindeer Games! We need you out here now!" Tony's voice came, weak and quiet. Confused, Phil looked around and saw no Iron Man in the sky in the hole in the ceiling. He looked back at the God and shook him again.

"Loki, they need you out there!" he ordered, shaking the man again. "Loki, please!" He looked around as he heard Stark's voice again.

"HEY ARE YOU DEAF?! GET OUT HERE! WE'RE ALMOST THROUGH WITH THIS! WE NEED ONE MORE MAN OUT HERE!"

"Loki!" Phil cried again, shaking him. The body moved slightly under his efforts like a massive rag doll, and it terrified him. "Help," he whispered frantically, standing and sprinting down the halls. "HELP! SOMEONE! IT'S LOKI! HELP!" he screamed, voice barely heard over the noise from outside. He ran back into Natasha's room and began searching for something to help, something to protect himself and Loki with. Suddenly, there was a snarling, inhuman noise from the door and he scrabbled at the dresser top, grabbing the one thing he could find: Tasha's taser. He fumbled with it in his hands, trying to figure out how to use it in the precious few seconds he had left.

The Chitauri howled and Phil turned around sharply, closing his eyes, aiming, and pulling the trigger. There was a loud thump and he slowly opened his eyes to see that his opponent was stretched out on the ground. There was another sound of crashing from the hall and another Chitauri came sprinting past the door, screeching in what seemed like terror with Pepper and Tony chasing after it before the woman blew it to ashes.

"Well we've just about killed the worm thing, but that was one HELL of a way to help out, Lok - " Stark began sarcastically, flying back down the hall before he stopped and looked between Phil, the dead Chitauri, the smudge of ash that had once been Thanos, the burned hole in the floors, and the fallen god. "Thor," he said, voice wavering and broken. "Thor, fall back. Fall back to the Tower."

"Tony, we can hold it!" came Steve's voice. "It's dying as we speak, just give us one more minute!"

"Metal Man, my brother can help us finish this! Just send him out and we will be done!" Thor said a hint of pride in his voice.

"No, fall back now!" Tony shouted, voice shaky. "Just do as I say. Fall back to Romanoff's room." Silence on the other end of the line. "NOW!" Phil frowned, scared at the tone of panic in the adult's voice, from his position beside the unconscious god. Though the helmet was still down, the child could imagine the grief that was so evident in his voice and posture written all over the billionaire's face. "Phil, come here," he said, holding a his arms out to him. "You did a good job, come on." Phil ran over to him, wrapping his arms around the comforting metal, trying to hold back his tears. "I've got you. Don't worry."

"Tony, the worm thing's dead! What is it? What - oh god..." Pepper whispered, backing away and instinctively putting a hand to her mouth though it simply hit the metal mask. "Oh, _Loki_..." Phil looked between her and Tony, mind so far behind and giving room not for logic, but for one thing. Panic.

"Wait! Wait, you have to help Loki!" he protested as Tony began walking away. "You have to help him!"

"We can't help him anymore," Tony said tensely, walking on.

"He's hurt!" Phil screamed at him. "You can't leave him when he's hurt! Help him! Pepper, make him help! _HELP_ _HIM! YOU CAN'T LEAVE HIM!_" he screamed, voice cracking over the last sentence.

"What is it, Metal Man?" Thor asked, landing on the platform and running in. "Where is my brother?" Tony looked down and held Phil closer to him, taking unsteady breaths. "Where is Loki?" he asked, voice harder as he saw Phil's distraught expression.

"I'm sorry, Thor," he whispered and Phil froze, unable to shout at Tony anymore. He simply couldn't make any noise. He recognized that _voice_, that _tone_ from a long time ago in a hospital bed. _I'm sorry, son_. Loki...was Loki...

"LOKI?!" Thor shouted, shoving by Tony to march to Romanoff's room. "LO...Loki?" the shout turned into a broken sob. "No, brother. No...NO!" The God's roar shook the air and Banner came leaping up, big and green, Natasha on his back and Steve and Hawkeye in either hand.

"What's going on?" Barton asked, trailing off as he heard another wail from the hall and saw Thor hunched over a form in the doorway. The archer ran forward to stop by the God's side and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"LOKI! BROTHER, NO!" he thundered again and Steve closed his eyes in sympathetic sorrow. "NO-OOO..." He rocked back and forth, his brother's still form in his arms, blood soaking his armor from the gaping hole in his chest and back: a through-and-through as they said in shootings. "No...no, no." But the green eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling, seeing nothing and yet more than they had ever seen before.

000000

When Loki opened his eyes, he was standing at the edge of a long road that wound down to a massive, beautiful palace surrounded by fog. So...this was it. He had died. Now that he thought about it, it hadn't been as hard as he had thought it would be. Not as painful - well that was a lie. It had been painful all the way to the end, but not the searing agony he had envisioned for a traitor like himself. Then, a figure came running down from a small rise that overlooked the road and he squinted through the sunlight, trying to see who this person was. When he realized who it was, he set off at a faster pace, walking down the path to meet her. She looked just as he remembered her from so long ago: shining green eyes, long black hair, and skin that seemed almost ashen, but still shone with some strange sort of beauty that came - in his mind - from being the goddess of the dead and his daughter at the same time.

Hel smiled at her dad as she saw him walking along the path to her. A smile she hadn't seen in such a long time shone at her and when he hugged her, she was lifted off her feet and swung around in his arms, his laughter mingling with hers.

"Hel, I - I'm so sorry for not seeing you more often...I...I apologize for anything and everything I've done to wrong you," he said, strangely heartfelt. She backed away and looked at her dad, eyes shining with playful confusion.

"Who's this new person? I don't think the high and mighty Loki would ever apologize like this to any one, mortal or god, kin or enemy." Loki looked down and she reached up to tuck the loose strands of his hair behind his ears. "Daddy, you know that I love you very much." He looked up and met her eyes.

"I love you too, Hel." His daughter smiled sadly and looked down. "What is it?"

"Loki, you cannot stay here. It's time for you to go home." Loki looked at her confused.

"But...I am home. Daughter, I'm with you, I - "

"No, daddy." This time, the no was a kind one, a loving one. "It is not your time, Loki Lafeyson, God of Mischief and Lies." She reached out and brushed a hand against his, going to hold it, but deciding against it. "It's time for you to _live_. You have friends, now. A life with people who care for you, who love you." She looked over her dad's shoulder and her eyes filled with tears. "Something that we could never have...have never had." She gently turned him around and showed him a scene, as though he were watching through a scratched and fogged window.

Thor was sitting by his dead body, looking down in shocked pain, and Barton - _Barton_ - was standing beside him in comfort. Tony was standing by Bruce's other form, keeping him relatively calm (but even the beast showed obvious signs of sadness), and Steve was standing in the manner of a veteran who has seen loss over and over, and still feels the pain every time. Nat's eyes sparkled with tears though she kept her head bowed to hide her weakness, but Phil was the one that tore at the god's heart. The little boy was standing there, holding Pepper's metal encased hand as the woman comforted him, looking down at the ground, _not_ crying. He was in shock more than any of them, eyes wide, filled to the brim with tears, both scared and numb at the same time. "Go back to them, Loki. Come back to your mother, brother, friends, and father, and _live_ again. You have a true family. Go now. Before it is too late. Before the journey becomes too long even for you to travel."

"But the prophecy - "

"Screw the prophecy." Loki raised an eyebrow at his daughter's disregarding remark and her language. "Don't look so surprised. Your mother may have come up with the prophecy, but I control the dead, and _I_ do whatever _I_ want with it."

"But the Fates - " he began helplessly, only to be cut off once more.

"Well then, screw the Fates, too." She paused thoughtfully. "Well, you only did hear the _bad_ half of it, didn't you?" Loki grinned at her and laughed. Now he was remembering why he loved his daughter so much. Why had he never visited her earlier?

But while he was laughing and smiling, tears of hot anger and despair were being shed in the realm of the living.

000000

Phil gently pulled his hand free of Nat's gentle grip and walked over to Loki, reaching out to trail his fingers on the armor, shivering as they caught the ragged edges along the wound.

"Loki," he said sadly, sitting down heavily and holding the god's cold hand, looking around at Thor. "Is he...dead?" Thor smiled gently at the boy.

"No, Son of Coul. He is only Sleeping, waiting to wake and dine in Valhalla." Phil understood what that really meant: Loki _was_ dead. The boy gently let go of the fallen god's hand. It wasn't that the sensation of holding a dead man's hand was uncomfortable. It was that it was _Loki's_ hand. It was the hand of a dear friend, of a man he had come to see as family.

"Close his eyes," Phil whispered, voice catching and wavering. "Please, close his eyes!" Thor looked down at him, disconcerted, and reached out to put a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder. "Close his eyes!" This time it was said fearfully and in an almost hysterical way. "That way he'll only be sleeping, please just close his eyes!"

"Phil," Pepper began softly, stepping forward to try guide him away. "Phil, come on, let's go."

"Close his eyes! Please, just _close them, close them PLEASE!_" As Pepper gently grabbed his arm and began the process of lifting him into her arms, they learned very quickly that their beloved agent was quite capable of throwing a fit and throwing one effectively.

"NO!" he shouted, lashing out in an attempt to break away from Pepper. "LOKI! LOKI, CLOSE HIS EYES, PLEASE! PLEASE! JUST CLOSE HIS EYES! MAKE HIM SLEEPING, MAKE HIM SLEEPING!"

"Phil, listen to me!" Nat said, intervening as Pepper released the boy's arm in surprise. "Phil, you aren't making this any easier," she told him sternly as she dropped down to his level, grabbing his shoulders. "I want you to calm down, okay? I want you to calm down and go sit in Banner's room, alright? We'll take care of everything out here." The radiologist had finally managed to change back to his human form and stepped forward, reaching for the boy's hand.

"CLOSE HIS EYES!" Phil screamed and wrenched himself away in a surprising display of strength and agility to crash painfully into the dresser. This time, it was Steve who stepped forward and gently, yet firmly, wrapped his arms about the boy's middle and easily picked him up off the ground, backing away towards his own room, instead of Bruce's.

"NO! JUST CLOSE HIS EYES! JUST CLOSE HIS EYES! HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S NOT DEAD! YOU'RE ALL LYING!" At those words, Thor bowed his head and began sobbing silently into his hands, Clint slowly moving to sit beside him and put his hand on his back in comfort. "HE'S NOT DEAD, I KNOW HE'S NOT!"

"Phillip J. Coulson, SHUT UP!" Nat shouted without looking at her target, using a tone that she would use for his adult form. It usually would have gotten the message across, but not in the boy's frenzied and agitated state.

"He's NOT DEAD!" he cried again, throat raw and voice cracking as he slowly began to lose it. "LOKI CAN'T BE DEAD, HE CAN'T BE!" Pepper tried unsuccessfully to hide her sobbing, and Tony led her away to the lab so that the two of them could get out of their suits. They caught a final_ you're all lying!_ screamed from the other room before they moved out of earshot.

Steve finally managed to open the door and retain his hold on the kicking, biting, punching, and screaming child in his arms and firmly sat him on the bed, kneeling before him and forcing the child's arms to remain by his sides.

"Phil, listen to me - " But there was no getting through to the hysterical boy.

"YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE ALL LYING!" There it was again. That one phrase: _you're lying!_ And that was when Steve knew he was right in his astute assumption outside in the hall.

"Phil, this is reminding you of your mother isn't it?" he asked suddenly and not unkindly, and Phil looked at him through sobs and tears. "Her eyes were open too, the last time you saw her, weren't they? When you saw her on the ground, her eyes were open too...the lawyer said 'I'm sorry, son.' And Tony said, 'I'm sorry, Thor.' That's what this is all about, isn't it?" There were no more screamed accusations or orders. Just sobs, hiccups, and tears. "You never cried for your mother did you?" A low keening howl started and Steve pulled the bawling child into his arms, holding him tightly.

"Loki...Loki..." Phil sobbed over and over, the word drawing out into a rhythmic wail that went with his erratic breathing. "LOKI!"

Outside, Banner and Tony lifted Loki's body onto a makeshift stretcher they had made from some scraps in the lab and hefted the god's body onto their shoulders as they headed for Loki's room. There was a series of running footsteps and Clint looked up from where he and Nat were guiding a numb and weak Thor to his own room. He glared wordlessly and turned back to his task.

"You chose an impeccable time to arrive, Director. You couldn't have been more _useless_," Romanoff said emotionlessly, yet pointedly. Fury watched in uncomprehending silence as the trio passed only to allow his shoulders to sag in defeated sorrow when the two scientists shuffled by, recognizing dead body that was their burden. Both Banner and Stark gave him hollow, disappointed looks and he realized what they were blaming him for: S.H.I.E.L.D. had never arrived. They had had no back up, and Loki apparently had paid the price. As soon as they vanished down the hall, he heard the tearful screams of a child somewhere else in the tower; he could only assume it was Phil and his heart broke even more. He made a move to search out the source of the sound Pepper marched over at gazed at him tearfully, wet streaks down her cheeks.

"I want you to leave," she ordered shakily. "Now."

And he did, leaving the woman to sink to the ground, wrap her arms around her knees and sob.


	35. Chapter 35: Life After Loki

Silence.

It was a strange noise in the Tower, especially with the whole team living there along with a child who loved to run around and get into things. Or rather had loved to run around and get into things. Now, Phil simply sat in his room, curled up on his bed, staring into space. And it was this reclusive, isolating activity that was making people worried. After not seeing Phil since she had woken up at four in the morning, Nat got to her feet and walked over to the door, knocking gently.

"Phil?" She tried the doorknob and found that it was locked. "Phil...I know you can hear me." The boy didn't even glance at the door. His eyes were fixed on the dresser that had been the source of so much pain and suffering for him and for everyone else. "I want you to open this door. You need to eat, Phil. You skipped breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday. You need to eat." Phil's eyes drifted over to look at the plates of food he had devoured late last night. No one had realized he had eaten apparently, he noted idly. But then, he focused on the dresser once more. He wanted to cry, but his eyes were too sore, and he had no tears or strength left to do so. Instead, he absent-mindedly twisted the blanket around his hands until they cut off circulation, waited a few seconds, unwound it, and repeated the process. It gave him some sort of comfort in feeling something that was actually there instead of the nothing that was eating away at him.

"Phil - " Nat began again, but stopped and rested her head on the door. "We love you." Inside, the boy continued to stare ahead of himself. "We all care so very much about you. We want to help. Come out, please." In the minutes of silence that followed, she gave up reluctantly and walked off to go and find Clint. Instead though, she found herself in Loki's room, looking down at the corpse lying stone cold on the bed. They had removed his armor so that he was just in his tunic and Thor had bandaged up the wound to try and hide it because every time anyone looked at it, it only reopened the wounds in their own hearts that had barely been stitched closed.

He looked so peaceful, eyes finally closed when Tony had acquiesced to Phil's screamed pleads once he had been placed safely in Steve's room. She had to agree with the boy: he only looked as though he were sleeping now. But that marble complexion to his skin, that coldness that seemed to radiate from him, ensured the world that he was in fact dead. Thor had left early that morning to go to New Mexico: he couldn't accept the reality that surrounded him, so he felt the need to flee from it. That left the god of thunder's dead brother in their care, and it was something that they both loathed but wanted. They felt responsible for what happened, for not being there. So it was only fitting that they be the ones to bear the aftermath on their consciences.

"Why did you do it?" Nat whispered softly, but there was obviously no reply from Loki. There never would be, she told herself and turned around to leave, hand reaching out for the doorknob. But instead of grabbing it, she turned back around and sat on the side of the bed, looking down at the god's hand. There were very small patches of blue Jotun skin showing through his Asgardian outer-shell and she realized that his body had been in the process of changing when he had died. She idly pondered if the Jotun had some way of dealing with wounds like this, or if it was a natural response to the body losing heat as the extremities died first and then the rest of the body. Feeling out of place, as though she were acting out of character, she reached out and gently placed her hand on his forehead, sweeping his hair away from his face in a rhythmic pattern.

"He misses you," she whispered, voice low and husky as she tried to fight tears. "He really misses you. He won't eat, he won't drink. I don't even know how much he sleeps. No one's seen him in days and he doesn't talk. Clint's heard him crying in the night, but there are never any tears...he doesn't have enough left." She paused and cleared her throat. "Tony's finished the machine again...it had gotten damaged in the fighting, but he fixed it. I just...I just wish you were here to help Phil." She gave a bitter laugh. "We hated you, you know? We hated you _so_ much. We never trusted you, we never wanted you near us...or near Phil. Especially Phil." She stopped and clasped her hands before her on the bed as though in prayer. "I don't know how much of the ether is real, now that I know you guys exist. But if you can hear me, please...as a final act, can you help Phil? He needs you." She stopped again, head bowed. "He needs you so, _so _much." She jumped as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she looked around sharply to see Steve beside her. She couldn't believe that she had become so engrossed in her self-dialogue that she became so detached from the world around her.

"Before you do anything," he said softly as she got to her feet and made to leave the room in borderline embarrassment. "I - I want you to know that we _all_ miss him. Life after Loki just doesn't seem..."

"Real." Romanoff finished Steve's thought for him, but didn't turn around to face him. She remained resolutely turned to the door, head bowed. "Do you...do you think he can hear us? In whatever afterlife exists?" she continued, barely turning to direct her question.

"But _does_ an afterlife exist?" the super soldier asked helplessly as he took Romanoff's place beside their fallen friend. "I've always believed that one does, but I just can't seem to be sure any more...there're too many surprises in the universe." Now, it was Romanoff who put a hand on his shoulder in comfort and she made her way to sit on the other side of Loki's body.

"Yes. It does," the assassin answered firmly. "Hell."

"Well, you're nice," Barton said from the doorway and the archer slowly stepped in to sit on the foot of the bed. "You think after everything he did," he asked, gesturing to Loki, "he went to Hell?"

"Not the place Hell," she said softly, an idea starting to bud in her mind. "Hel. Hel is his daughter in Norse mythology...the goddess of the Underworld. Do you think - "

"Don't raise your hopes, Nat," her friend told her softly, and Steve nodded in agreement.

"I mean, there have to be rules. There have to be some sort of regulations in the Underworld about letting people come back, especially people who's deaths had been predicted like Loki's was." Nat glared at the super soldier and he shrugged. "I'm not trying to make him stay dead. I'm just saying that it's unlikely she's going to be able to bring Loki back. I mean, do we know if she even exists or if she was just a creation of the Vikings as an additional goddess?"

"We don't," the Russian answered and in the air vents, Phil listened, heart somewhat lighter than it had been the last few days. "But we can hope. Because hope is the strongest power out there. It supersedes even that of the gods in Asgard or any other realm." With that, the adults fell silent and Phil felt that sense of sadness and something else settling over him. He couldn't place what it was, exactly...but it felt like it was suffocating him so he moved away from the screen of the vent, heading for his room once more. He had a lot to think over.

However, as soon as he dropped down into his room, closed the vent, and settled himself in his bed once more, he heard a rattling in the vents along with slightly muffled talking. Soon, he saw the silhouette of someone fumbling with the latch on the vent and the boy found himself seated across from Bruce.

Again with the silence, he thought bitterly to himself but made no move to break the ice between them.

"What happened?" The words were spoken gently and quietly, but Phil made no move to respond. "Phil, I need you to talk to me. I need to know that you're alright." There was silence and suddenly a flurry of movement with the boy's hands that completely took the doctor by surprise. "Whoa, hey, hey, what are you trying to say?" Banner asked and gently grabbed Phil's hands and held them still before releasing them again.

"Greetings Doctor Banner," J.A.R.V.I.S. said in the silence that followed. "I believe I should relay to you that Agent Coulson has decided not to talk for an undetermined amount of time and has instead chosen to communicate via sign language."

_Don't want to talk,_ the boy gestured.

"_Are_ you signing, Phil?"

_Yes._

"I'm taking that as a yes. Does any one in the tower understand signing?"

_No._

"Does Fury?"

_No! I don't want him here, I don't want him here!_

"I believe that was an emphatic no, I don't want him here," came J.A.R.V.I.S' helpful translation. Banner waved aside the comment and sat in thought.

"Does Maria?" A hesitation. "She does, doesn't she?"

_Yes..._

"Well, we're going to bring her in to talk for you okay? I understand if you don't want to talk after what happened, but we need some way to communicate with you and having J.A.R.V.I.S. interpret every word you say won't work very well. I think it will just get on everyone's nerves." Phil nodded once more and sat there in silence again. "Are you okay Phil?"

_I don't know, _am_ I? _he signed, a bitterly sarcastic expression on his face. Bruce sighed and gently put his hand on the boy's shoulder. He had an adequate idea of what had just been said just by the boy's expression.

"Okay...okay. I'm going to go an call Hill for you, alright?"

_No. I don't _want_ to talk to anyone._ Again, the doctor could tell what was said by the expression.

"Well, too bad. You get to." And then, Phil glared. It was so sudden, so unexpected that Banner actually took a half step back at the fiery gaze. It was those locked eyes that drove him out of the room in the end.

000000

"He _glared_ at you?" Steve asked, shocked. Banner nodded, surprised himself.

"I never thought he would glare at _you_, I mean, he really is close to you even though he doesn't show it at times," Pepper commented, baffled and looked around at Clint and Natasha. "Did you know he knew sign language?"

"He chose it over learning a second language in school. Proved to be pretty useful on some missions," Nat commented, staring into space in thought. "In a way, maybe we should just let this be."

"Let it be? Nat, he's completely inverted himself," Clint protested, but she shook her head.

"Exactly. He might just need this in order to keep his wits about him. Maybe this is his way of healing," she said as though it were obvious, but Tony shook his head.

"I don't think so. If this was healing, he would still be out here, just wandering. He wouldn't talk to any of us, he'd just keep his head down. Who knows, maybe he'd spend some time in Loki's room, too. This is just hiding away and...well...hiding," he ended lamely and in the silence that followed, Hill arrived on site.

"Hey," she said softly and they turned to her, offering wan smiles or simple stares. "I'm sorry about Loki," she said awkwardly, but everyone ignored it. They knew she had never been close to Loki or knew how close they all had been. The statement was just formulaic, nothing more. "But, uh, where's Phil?" she asked, sparring them the need to base the conversation around her half-hearted condolence. Steve sighed and gestured for her to follow him.

"Locked in his room. He won't let anyone in...Bruce had to go in through the air vents, but I think he might let you in," he commented before knocking on the door. "Phil, Maria's here." There was a soft padding of feet and the door opened just enough for the child-agent's coworker to get through. And before Steve could catch a glimpse of their elusive Phil, the door was softly, but firmly closed in his face. "It was worth a try," he muttered and walked back over to the others to wait for the results.

_Jesus_, he thought to himself. _We're making him sound like an experiment._

000000

Hill was squatting before the mute boy before her and felt something sad settle in the pit of her stomach. She had seen this look before: this look of silent determination to not do anything but suffer alone. And she knew the first question that she would ask.

_What happened?_

_Loki died in front of me. He died right next to me...I was holding his hand._

_Why are you sad?_

_Because it won't be the same. _

_You mean life after Loki?_ she signed, and he nodded. _Why don't you want to talk?_

_Because of Loki. I'm doing this for him._

_I think he would have wanted you to talk,_ she "said" kindly.

_No. He would understand. _Well, that didn't work out so well, she noted.

_What do you think you did? _she continued, and he shuddered.

I_ killed Loki._

She nodded. She knew what this was about, and she knew the weaknesses in this argument. _What do you mean?_

_I couldn't save him. I couldn't help him. I couldn't - _

Why_ couldn't you?_ her questions were gently asked, but there was clearly something there that wanted a straight answer. Phil hesitated and looked away, eyes shining with tears he refused to let fall.

_Because I wasn't big again. _There it was. She smiled in sad sympathy before continuing.

_Who do you blame for that?_

_Me. I blame me. If I had been big again I could have helped Loki, I could have protected him! I could have - _here his gestures failed him and he slowly began crying. "It's my fault," he whispered and allowed Hill to hug him close. "I couldn't protect him. I couldn't save him, and he'd saved me so many times." As soon as those words left his mouth, he stopped and wailed in horrified realization, making Maria jump at the terrible sound right in her ear. The glass, nearly drowning, almost getting hit by the cars, killing the Chitauri in his room -

"_Four times! It was me, he died because of me!_" he screamed and there was an immediate stampeding of footfalls and the door burst open to show Stark, Romanoff, Steve, Clint, Bruce, and Pepper in that order crowding in the doorway. But at a pointed glare from the adult agent in the room they hurriedly pushed back and closed the door once more.

"He knows," Clint whispered as they gathered in the hall, voice sad. "Damn it, he figured it out."

"That prophecy Thor told us about?" Pepper asked and Tony nodded. The rest of the team looked at each other worried. They could only imagine what they would be in for the next few days. _Weeks_, Banner amended in his head. _Or actually months_.

"He figured out he was the four times person," Tony commented, pointlessly. "Shit, that's going to destroy him." He ran a hand forcefully through his hair and groaned. "_Damn it._"

Inside the room, things weren't much better.

"Phil, it's okay. It's okay, whatever you're crying about, it's okay," she whispered, rubbing small circles into the boy's back.

"No. No, it's not. I killed Loki. I killed him. I _actually_ killed him!"

"Shh...shh, Phil. It's okay," she whispered. She picked up the boy and gently began rocking him in her arms. "Deep in the meadow, underneath the willow...a bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head and close your sleepy eyes..." In retrospect, that _really_ wasn't the best song to use, but it was the first one that came to her head and it seemed to quiet the boy down. "Deep in the meadow, underneath the willow...a bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head and close your sleepy eyes..."

In Phil's dreams that night, there was no one to protect him from the monsters.


	36. Chapter 36: Silhouette

Romanoff looked idly at the shot glass in her hand and then across at Barton, their game of cards forgotten on the table before them. Not that they had really expected to play...it had been more of a half-hearted attempt to try and take their minds off of the absence of sobbing from the adjacent room. At first the sudden noise had scared them, but then it comforted them because it meant that the boy was starting to come to terms with what happened. Not necessarily in the best way, but he was. However, their initial comfort was dying down as the silence stretched on and on from the bedroom.

"Do you think he's okay?" Clint asked, half heartedly placing a card down on the table, not even really noticing that it was the wrong color for its placement. Nat shrugged and continued playing off the illegal card.

"I don't know. We'll ask Hill when she - " Just as she spoke, the door creaked open softly to reveal Maria standing there, hand on the shoulder of a tearstained, almost vacant Phil. Seeing the archer's intake of breath to ask a question, the agent shook her head and guided the boy out of his room and down the hall towards them. As the two of them passed by, Nat reached out and gently squeezed his hand, feeling a sense of foreboding in her chest as he didn't react. There was no reciprocating pressure, nothing. He didn't even falter in his step. He just kind of...brushed by.

"Phil - " she began, rising to follow them, but stopped at the glare Hill threw her over her shoulder. Slowly sitting back down, the two agents watched as Phil opened the door to Loki's room and walked in, hand still in Maria's.

"It's bugging you, isn't it?" a voice asked, and they turned around to see Tony standing there, looking saddened.

"What is?"

"Don't try to play that card with me, Rushman. It's bugging you that she just suddenly showed up and is taking care of Phil right now. I mean, who does she think she is, butting in here like that?!"

"I really don't mind. She - "

"You don't - Romanoff, we've been caring for him this whole time, not _her_ - "

"_We_ called her in, Tony," Clint commented in a voice that said to leave it be. "She knows what she's doing with Phil, don't worry about it."

"But I mean, she can't just come in here and - "

"Tony, drop it," Romanoff warned, but the billionaire wouldn't let it go.

" - take care of him when we should be doing that. I mean, come on, we've been taking care of him the most here and - "

"Tony, Maria Hill plays the cello," Clint said through clenched teeth, and Tony gaped, voice lost. "Yeah, _that's_ what I meant by drop it."

"What? Wait, what about Portland?!"

"As Fury's right hand man, do you really think Coulson always tells the truth?" a hard voice asked and they turned around to see Hill standing in the doorway. "He's okay," she whispered, noting their questioning glances. "He's beat up about something but other than that, he's okay."

"So the two of you are - "

"Tony, if you want to not get thrown out the window again, _drop it!_" Clint cried, exasperated, and the scientist threw his hands up in defeat.

"Fine! Whatever."

"What I do want to know though is what Phil meant by he killed Loki."

000000

Phil stood before the bed, a small, scared figure in the gloom. The blinds were drawn, bathing the room in a dull half-light that cast an almost sickly pallor over the already pale skin of the body before him. A single tear drifted down the boy's cheek and he sniffed, angrily wiping it away with the back of his hand. He felt sick, standing here. He felt sick looking at the cold, waxy features of his friend, knowing that he was dead. Gone.

And it was all his fault.

But something inside the hysterical child began to assert itself, something older, calming. It was a voice that was familiar, and yet felt so foreign.

_Calm down, little one. Nothing like this is ever as bad as it seems. There is a bright side to every scenario, now just look for one here._ Phil watched the corpse before him, trying in vain to find any silver lining to the situation. _Do you know what it is? It's that he's not suffering anymore. He's not afraid of how he's going to die. He's at peace._ Phil sighed and took several deep breaths, letting that voice sooth his frayed and harried nerves.

"I'm sorry, Loki," he whispered in a voice that was hoarse from his crying and sobbing for so long without a break. "I'm so sorry." He slowly sank to his knees and rested his upper body on the bed, reaching out to hold Loki's hands in his own. "I'm so, so sorry. This was all my fault...I'm sorry." He fought to keep his breathing under control and pushed himself up to his feet before laying down on the bed beside his friend. "If I had just been more careful..." His heart ached as he thought over everything that he had been through, everything Loki had been through. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that this man should be the one to pay the price. Phil lifted his head slightly from the god's shoulder to look at the peaceful face.

"You sang for me, Loki," he said, not bothering to hide the tears. "I'll sing for you, too." He took a deep breath to steady himself and nestled back down on the cold shoulder beneath his head. "Sing me to sleep. Sing me to sleep. I'm tired an' I want to go to bed. Sing me to sleep. Sing me to sleep. And then leave me alone." His voice wavered as he said that last line. "Don't try to wake me in the morning cause I will be gone. Don't feel bad for me, I - I want you to know..." His voice choked up and stopped, unable to continue anymore. He closed his eyes and sighed, slowly feeling himself drifting off to sleep. He was tired. He was drained. But for this one moment, he felt at least a little happy. He was with Loki again. And it just felt normal...

It was night when Phil's eyes opened, and the world about him was silent and comforting. He was in his bed once more, wrapped up in his blankets. Vaguely he remembered someone picking him up and carrying him to his room, and when he thought about it a little harder, he recollected that it had been Steve. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and his gaze idly drifted over to his desk, where it stuck, mind trying to process what was sitting there.

A dove. An ice dove.

That hadn't been there before.

...

Had it?

He swung out of bed and ran over to it, but grew sad once more as he realized it had just been the one Loki had given him all those long days and weeks ago. He turned to go back to his bed but soon caught sight of something else glinting in the moonlight on his dresser - on _the_ dresser. It was the violin.

Now...had _that_ been there? He couldn't remember anymore. The voice that had spoken to him before told him that yes it had, but the child in him was grasping at straws, hoping against all possibility that Loki had come back, that he was leaving hints for him.

_He's gone, Phil. Listen to me. He's gone and he's not coming back. I know you want him back. I want him back. But you need to realize that Loki's passed on. He's not coming back. _He pushed his older self out of his head and contemplated what to do with it. He reached out and picked it up, looking at the hateful object in his hands. His eyes smarted with something that burned as he recalled the laughter, the smiles, and the fun that had come with this simple instrument. The dancing, the music...the good times. Something angry grew in his chest and he ran from his room, sprinting out onto the landing strip that extended from the tower and hurled it over the edge, tears streaking his face.

"WHY'D YOU GO!?" he screamed to the night air, but the sleeping city didn't answer and the boy sat down on the edge of the building, and began crying into his arms. "Why did you go?" he asked again through sniffles and coughs. "I don't want you to be gone."

_Deep in the cell of my heart I will feel so glad to go. Sing me to sleep sing me to sleep._

The words came back to him and he tried to shut them out. _I'm_ not glad that you went; don't go.

_I don't want to wake up on my own anymore. Sing to me, sing to me...I don't want to wake up on my own anymore._

I don't care. _I_ wake up on my own now, so why don't you come back?

_Don't feel bad for me. I want you to know deep in the cell of my heart I really want to go._

But _I_ don't want you to go. Loki come home. Come home Loki, I miss you.

"Come _home_," the child pleaded with the cold air. A cold blast of air swept over the small figure and he closed his eyes, waiting for the hand to close on his shoulder. Waiting for the scene to play out like a story book, for Loki to return when Phil had called for him. But life wasn't like the story books, and the agent knew it.

Nothing happened, and he dejectedly stood up and walked back to his room. He pulled the covers up over his head and cried silently. "Please come home Loki. I want you home."

* * *

_Come_ home.

"Now is the final chance. Go."

_Come home._

* * *

It was time to go. He couldn't be around this place anymore, not after everything that happened. Phil looked down at the transcript of how to operate the machinery for the shrink-tank-gone-wrong. He wasn't going to wait any longer. He was going to deal with this problem on his own without the assistance of _anyone_ in this tower.

They just didn't understand him anymore.

No one did. The only one who had was gone. And he wasn't coming back.

Carefully, he left his room and approached the doors of everyone else. He cautiously cracked open Nat's bedroom door and smiled slightly as he saw her and Clint tangled up under a pile of blankets like two kittens, just sleeping. He gave a barely audible sigh and memorized their faces for what was to come. He wanted to be able to call up their images when he needed them. Without the merest click, he closed the door and stepped down the hall to open Bruce's door. Unsurprisingly, the man was crashed over his desk, piles of scientific papers strewn about in utter and complete disarray. The boy stepped forward and picked up the doctor's glasses from where they were precariously positioned on the floor under the adult's foot and placed them on the desk, reaching out and turning off teh desk lamp.

"Goodbye, Bruce," he said softly in the dark and left, going to Steve's room. Here his heart grew heavy. He fought the urge to shake the sleeping super soldier awake, to tell him what was going on, and ask for help and comfort. But he stopped himself just as he was about to step into the room. Now was not the time. Now he just needed to go and get this over with. Say the goodbyes and get this done. But he had one last bit of advice.

"You're not alone, Steve. You're never alone." As though the man had heard the boy, he shifted under the blankets and rolled over to face the door. His eyes opened momentarily but he didn't see anything in his half-asleep state and quickly passed out once more. Even if he had been completely awake, Steve wouldn't have seen anything. Phil was already gone, heading to the room he knew to be Tony and Pepper's. The two of them were peacefully lying side by side, facing each other, and Coulson gave a slight smirk before mentally apologizing to the billionaire. He was effectively going to be betraying the man there with what he was about to do, but he was done.

He was done with the burden of not being his own self. He was tired of not being able to do anything about the situations he found himself in. He was tired of being useless. He was tired of being a kid. He was done.

He was walking through the kitchen on his way to the lab, Steve's sweats under his arm, when a strange noise came.

_Tap._

Phil frowned.

_Tap. Tap! Taptaptaptaptap - TAP!_

He shook his head at the noise and continued on. Might be something knocking around in the air vents. His hand descended upon the door handle.

_TAPTAPTAPTAPTAP! _There was a pause and then... _BANG._

Phil froze, heart racing. That noise was coming from over by the glass that he had just come in through moments earlier. And now there was something out there. Phil moved back into the kitchen, keeping his back to the glass, poured himself a mug of milk, and made as though he was opening the microwave. In reality, he was angling the door so that the living room window was reflected in the glass of the appliance. The boy froze again and the ceramic mug slowly slipped out of his hand and crashed to the floor, shattering. He found it hard to breath as he took in the silhouette.

And then, barely daring to make the slightest movement, he turned and couldn't hold it in any longer.

He screamed.

But it wasn't a scream of terror, it was a scream of hysterical joy, of an almost terrible sadness. The Tower slowly started rattling with noise of the avengers waking up and a tearful smile broke out over the boy's face as he ran around the island, leaped over the back of the couch and scrambled over the coffee table. Screw going around things, it only slowed people down. And he certainly wasn't in the mood to go slowly.

"LOKI!" he screamed, voice cracking, that one word coming out garbled by tears, as he threw open the door and threw himself into the waiting arms.

Loki closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, holding the child close to him though he really needn't have. He could have not been supporting the small figure clinging to him and Phil would still have been attached to his upper body like a leech.

"LOKI!" the boy wailed again, crying tears of hysteria into his shoulder and the god of Mischief and Lies gently rocked the child in his arms.

"I'm here, Phil. I'm here," he reassured him and rested his head on the shoulder of the small one in his arms. "I'm back. I'm home."

"You heard me?" a small voice sobbed, and Loki nodded.

"I heard you, Phil. I heard you. And I'm not going anywhere, I promise." He looked up at the group of stunned, teary eyed, and disbelieving Avengers standing before him. No doubt the two of them presented an emotionally trying scene. "I promise."

"You promise?" came the broken little voice from somewhere against his chest again and Loki nodded, holding him even closer.

"Philip J. Coulson, I promise I will never leave you like that again."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Loki!" Phil sobbed and made fists in the fabric of Loki's tattered tunic. Then, everything came tumbling out. "Fourtimesitwasfourtimes,youtoldmeandIdidn'tgetit, I'msorry!Ishouldhavebeenmorecareful,Ishouldhave-"

"Phil, what is this?" Loki asked pulling back and gently setting the boy back on his feet, kneeling so that he was resting on his heels. The boy sobbed and looked down at the ground, and the adult rested a hand on both of the child's shoulders. "Say it again, slower."

"Four times..." he managed to whisper before breaking down again. "I killed you, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I was an idiot, I'm sorry - " Loki cut him off by pulling him into a hug that the child was all too eager to return. "I'm sorry!" But before the adult could continue, the boy bulldozed over him and let out the rest. And it made everyone else cringe and feel as though a thousand tons of depression and pain had been dumped on them.

"It made me scared! When you died, it made me scared. I didn't want to see you die, I didn't want to see someone close to me die again!" he said in a panicked rush. "The monsters came back that night because you weren't there to protect me. I wanted to play the piano with you again, I wanted to talk to you again! I didn't want to - I said you were sleeping, that's it, you were sleeping, just sleeping! I didn't want to believe that you were gone, I didn't want to. I didn't want to because then I'd know that I let you down. It was my fault, I couldn't do anything! I was small, I wasn't big again! I wasn't big again! And I had to hide my anger at my friends, because it was their fault I wasn't and - " Stark flinched and Banner looked down, a sense of pain creeping into his heart. "And I had to not get mad at Pepper for leaving me alone, and I had to not get mad at Clint and Tasha for not coming to help you in time, but - but mostly I was mad at me because I could do so much more! I could do _so much more_, and I _couldn't_! I could have saved you, but I wasn't able to do anything and I had to watch you die and know that it may as well have been me who put you there and - and - "

The hate was out. The anger, the pain, the suffering that the boy had kept locked away inside of him, hidden behind the locked doors of his room and the silent gestures of sign language...it was all out in the open.

"Oh, Phil..." Loki whispered and pulled the child into a hug. "This was not your fault. You can't change the Fates...You can't change them. This wasn't your fault, or their fault...this was my fault. And I'm sorry I ever got you involved. I'm sorry. I'm so, _so_ sorry."

In the tearful silence that followed, Tony tried to step back to lean on the counter in order to compose himself. And stepped onto something rather sharp.

"F - OOOWWWWWWW!" he screamed, falling flat on his back as he immediately grabbed his foot, swearing in every language he knew as he stared at the ceramic shard sticking out of his foot. Admittedly, it was more of a sliver, but to his over-dramatic mind, it was of course a shard and that meant he was going to die. "COULSON!"

A soft, hiccuping giggle was all that he received but it was a noise that lightened the now rather chaotic mood.

Well, this had been an eventful night, Hill thought as she watched from the shadows. Loki is back from the dead, Phil had an emotional break down, and Stark now has a mug sticking out of his foot...I had better report back to Fury.

And without a backwards glance, she headed for the elevator and left the tower.

So it was she never noticed two things. The first was Tony flipping her off from the floor and the second was Phil waving slightly in goodbye and offering one of his rare soft smiles. And through his watery tears, something shined in his eyes that said he was very thankful that she had been there for him earlier. And maybe that he was sad to see her go without saying anything.

But soon he was back to hiding his face in Loki's shoulder as he held his dear friend close, trying hard not to completely break down.

And failing miserably.


	37. Chapter 37: Return to Normal

**This is a response to GirlofLightning: I'm glad I made you happy! I couldn't very well just leave Loki dead, well...I _could_ have. And originally, he was supposed to mind you, but I would have been torn to tiny bits and pieces and fed to Bilgesnipe, so...But I'm glad that I made you so happy! :)**

**And a huge thank you to all who reviewed last chapter or over the course of me posting this chapter. They really make me feel good. :)**

"Can we please do this this time _without _any unwanted interruptions?"

"Don't know. Thor still has to show up and I don't want to be halfway through this process and suddenly be like _Oh, looks like levels are fluctuating again. I wonder what's going -_ and then BAM! Thor drops through the roof, scrambles the electric, and you end up a woman," Stark said matter-of-factedly through a mouthful of eggs, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Pepper for his rude table manners, and Phil's eyes widened over the rim of the glass of orange juice he was drinking.

"Is there a possibility that could happen?" he asked, not sounding pleased whatsoever with the idea.

"No, Phil, Tony's just messing with you," Banner said out of force of habit from where he was reading the newspaper. "Yep, the public is officially hating us again but loving us at the same time. It wasn't like we destroyed the city again! I mean, we kind of did in terms of confidence in the system, but other than that..." he sighed and put the offending paper down. "Crowds are fickle things aren't they? They swing one way when one critic says something and then another one pipes up and they all swing in the other direction. Makes you wonder if any of them have any independent thought anymore..."

"Why do you think I wanted to take over this world?" Loki asked sardonically. "You all are like cows milling around aimlessly thinking one thing one moment and the complete opposite the next." Everyone looked at him, taken aback and slightly wary. "What? Has my sense of sarcasm changed since I died?"

"Apparently not," Clint muttered and Phil laughed, looking over at the glass wall that over looked the city once more. "You keep staring into the sun waiting for him, you're going to make yourself blind," he warned with a mouthful of cantaloupe and Romanoff rolled her eyes.

"Were you raised in a barn, Barton? Don't talk with food in your mouth," she said in her serious manner that was actually her joking face. No one could tell the difference.

"No, I was raised in a circus."

"Same difference," the Russian retorted and Clint held his hands up in defeat.

"Fine!"

"Hey, you know what? That thing you said, you keep staring into the sun waiting for him, you're going to make yourself blind'?" Phil asked and everyone looked at him. "Wasn't that what Fury told you when they went missing in the first place? You know, the first time with Thanos?" Loki's expression darkened. "Sorry."

"Don't hold grudges, Loki, it's bad for your health," Bruce said, again only half paying attention to what was going on. He had picked up the newspaper again.

"Something I quite adequately learned from you humans. Apparently I excel in that aspect of life."

"Really not something you want to excel at," Steve warned from where he was reading a newspaper as well.

"Again, has my sarcasm become entirely undetectable?"

"No, you're just a lot more..." Pepper trailed off, trying to find the word she was looking for.

"Caustic," Banner supplied and she shook her head.

"I was going to say something along the lines of more sardonic but - "

"So you mean caustic," the radiologist said pointedly, raising his eyes from the words before his nose.

"Well, let's just say death has a way of re-prioritizing your personality traits," the god explained and looked down at his eggs once more. "This certainly looks more palatable than when I cooked."

"Yeah I only ate what you cooked to be nice..." Phil admitted and several of the avengers choked on their food around the table.

"Excuse me?" Loki asked affronted. "I didn't mean that my food wasn't worthy for any living being, just that - "

"It kinda wasn't," the boy answered and smiled when Loki looked even more taken aback. "You become more sardonic, my replies get better. It's an direct relationship."

"Since when do you talk about direct and indirect relationships?" Tony asked after stopping his examination of his bandaged foot.

"Since always. You just didn't know about it." Tony looked around at Loki and threw a roll of bread at his head.

"What?!"

"You rubbed off on him, Reindeer Games," he said in mock anger. "Now we have to deal with sassy Coulson - "

"Oh, he's always been sassy, where have you been, Tony?" Romanoff asked and there were smirks all around the table at the innocent way it was said.

"Loki, can I ask you a question?" Phil began cautiously and the adult gaped.

"Not _another one_, please! I'm still recuperating from last night!"

"It's not my fault I'm inquisitive!"

"Technically it is," Nat commented, but Loki cut in before an argument could start.

"You were asking _so many _though! What was it?"

"What was what?" the boy asked, frowning.

"Your questions - "

"OH! First it was you died, how did you get back. Then it was did it hurt; what was the afterlife like; it isn't run by a god in a white shining robe, is it; if you have a daughter that means you're married; you're not married, so how do you have a daughter; then it was how did your wound heal; it's still healing, can I see it; then it was did Tony step on my broken mug, sorry; then it was was the afterlife scary; is your daughter scary seeing as she's the goddess of the underworld; then it was why did you decide to come back; and finally it was how did you end up outside the tower." Loki looked at him in an unamused manner.

"I remember very clearly now," he said in a peeved tone, and the boy immediately went on the defensive.

"I was curious! It's not every day someone comes back from the dead..." he muttered and Loki sighed.

"Fine." Phil looked up hopefully. "One more question, no more!"

"Were you looking for your violin this morning?" he asked meekly and Loki frowned.

"Actually, yes. What happened to it?" he responded, suspiciously eyeing the fidgeting boy before him. "Phil..."

"Sorry?" The god rolled his eyes.

"What did you do with it?" His tone clearly said that the adult simply expected it to have a few broken strings or something.

"I, uh...threw it off the tower?"

"WH-at?!" Loki cried, choking on the sip of water he had just taken.

"I was angry...And they left it in my room so...yeah."

"So yeah?" Loki continued as though that wasn't an adequate response.

"Yeah!" There was a loud bang and everyone looked over their shoulders simultaneously to see a dejected Thor walking into the house, head bowed. Loki cleared his throat awkwardly and watched as his brother passed by the table without a single glance upwards. He looked as though he hadn't changed or showered in a few days and Loki frowned. If he had been with Jane, he would have taken care of his appearance. So that meant...

"Where have _you_ been while I lay dead in my room?" Loki asked accusingly and instantly regretted it. the hammer fell to the ground with a loud, massive bang and Thor spun around, a glimmer of disbelieving hope in his eyes. Loki raised a cautious hand and waved slightly. "Hello."

"Loki..." he breathed as though he couldn't believe his eyes. In fact, it looked as though the tall man was having trouble breathing as his brother stood up and walked over to stand before him, that slight half smile on his lips. "It cannot be..." he continued through his shining tears. At the table, Banner and Steve felt the need to look down while Nat, Clint, and Pepper gave secretive smiles at the scene unfolding before them. Tony was the one who was furtively wiping at his eye with a napkin. Phil slipped from his seat and ran over to Thor, smiling.

"You can touch him. He's not going to go anywhere," the boy said in his helpful manner and reached out to grab Thor's hand and start to guide it to Loki's arm. But even then, there was a slightly resistant pull against Phil's lead. But that changed when the god of thunder's fingertips came into contact with the very whole, very real fabric and then the arm beneath.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" the blonde man shouted in happiness, which was ironic given what he had just bellowed, and tackled the Frost Giant in a massive hug.

"HEY, I'VE ALREADY DIED, TAKE IT EASY!" the younger sibling shouted from within his brother's crushing bear hug.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" he cried again and Loki nodded.

"I won't be if you don't let go!" he managed to gasp and finally had teleport out of Thor's grasp. "Yes, I'm back brother," he gasped, making sure no ribs were bruised or broken. Fat lot of chance on that first one, he thought bitterly as he felt a few tender spots on his sides.

"Hel?" Thor laughed through his tears, and the dark headed Asgardian shrugged.

"Who else?" Thor brushed his tears away and frowned in thought and Loki fought the temptation to stop before he hurt himself.

"That's cheating, you know," he said accusingly and laughed again, trying to drive the tears from his eyes.

"What?" his sibling asked him and looked up, merriment and mischief dancing behind his dark eyes.

"Coming back from the dead using your daughter - " Thor began in explanation while the rest of the table got to thinking as well.

"Isn't that kind of like some form of blackmail?" Clint asked and the god of mischief ground his heels into his forehead.

"Well, I'm ALIVE doesn't that count for something?" he asked, annoyed and a voice answered him.

"I think it does." He looked down at the smiling boy seated at the table and grinned back.

"Thank you Phil."

"Of course he agrees with you," Nat muttered as she stabbed her fork into an egg. "He holds you in the same status as Rogers now."

"_NO_ he doesn't," Steve argued and Phil shook his head in agreement. "If Phil threw my shield over the edge of the tower I would probably chase him down."

"I wouldn't do that!" Phil cried, mortified. To him, Captain America's shield was practically the Holy Grail. "I felt so bad about using one of your preliminary shields as a level when I was helping Tony in his lab that one time..."

"I remember that!" Tony said, suddenly rejoining the conversation. "That was entertaining."

"When was this?" Pepper asked and Tony waved her question aside.

"Oh when I was dying."

"Yeah, you never explained that to me," Pepper said warningly as she picked up her plate along with Steve's and Bruce's. "Phil are you done?"

"Yep," he said and went around picking up unused utensils and placing them back in their respective drawers. "Can I help with anything?"

"Well, why don't you just go and get your clothes for the procedure. We're going to go and do that right now, remember?" Phil nodded eagerly and after placing a few more of the dirty plates from the table on the counter he ran off to his room. But when he was safe within the confines of those four walls and wearing the many sizes too large clothing, he sat on his bed and simply waited. He was starting to feel that fear creep back into the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it. Then again, he wasn't exactly thrilled with being a kid for much longer. But still he hesitated. He was trying to pinpoint what it was and finally figured it out.

It was Loki. Loki had been dead, and it had been his fault. Life had suddenly come to a stop, but now it was racing ahead at breakneck speed, going too fast. It was as though someone was fast-forwarding their lives to where they would have been had Thanos not been hunting them. Then again, he had to thank thanos. Without that dreadful freak of nature...

None of this would have happened. When he realize that he had to start laughing. Without all that heartbreak, that terror, that pain, and that trauma...none of this wondrous, spectacular experience would have happened to him. Loki would have remained a demon in the dark, a monster that chased him in his dreams. He wouldn't have become a friend, practically family. Phil gave one last laugh and nodded, looking at the ground.

"Thanks, Thanos," he said and looked up to see a stricken looking Loki before him. "Let me explain that first - " he began, still laughing, but the man cut him off.

"_Thanks, Thanos?!_ What, were you happy I died?"

"No! Without Thanos, none of this would have happened. I would still hate you, you would be a prisoner in Asgard, and well, these last few months would have been very boring and long for me," Phil explained with that same contagious smile and Loki shook his head, initial suspicion and anger fading just as rapidly as it had come.

"That is true...though I wish it weren't," he commented and picked Phil up, carrying him out of the room. "Ready to go and get his over with?" Phil nodded vigorously.

"It's really gotten to be a pain sometimes," the boy added and watched with only mild trepidation as he found himself standing in the middle of the Prestige thing once more. He stood up straight and took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing," he said and at that moment, taking that subtext clue, Bruce and Tony turned on the mechanism, Pepper, Clint, Nat, Thor, and Loki looking on in mild worry.

* * *

Phil felt tingly.

Well, that was what he felt at first. Once he was done feeling tingly, he immediately began feeling like various muscles were cramping but then again that was to be expected seeing as really what was happening was he was being returned to his normal size.

_Oh right, wasn't this the procedure that was a fifty fifty chance or something like that,_ he thought idly to himself. _Ah, well. Too late to weep and moan about it. Isn't like I exactly have the privilege to say oh no thanks, I don't want to do this anymore. _

And then, quite simply, he felt nothing. It was a strange sensation, not feeling anything. Then, he realized that it wasn't that he was feeling nothing, its that he had gone completely back to normal after feeling all weird, so it felt like he wasn't feeling anything. Slowly he became aware of the sounds about him and the fact that apparently he had fallen over.

And then something nudged him with considerable force. Judging by the feel of the poke, it was a shoe, or rather a boot. Looking back on it, only one person had been wearing boots at breakfast.

"Since you just kicked me, Romanoff, I assume everything went accordingly?" Yep. Definitely didn't sound like his five year old self anymore. He opened his eyes and was met with the sardonic gaze of his coworker. "Yep."

"Need any help?" another voice asked and he readily took Barton's hand to help haul him to his feet.

"Thanks Barton," he muttered as he momentarily regained his balance.

"How do you feel?" Steve asked and he looked around at where the man was standing, watching him as though he was afraid the agent was going to pass out and fall over at any second.

"Taller," he answered and was gratified with a small smile that flickered across the super soldier's face. "Definitely feels good to be back, thanks Stark, Banner."

"Why is it that the moment he goes back to being an adult he goes all agent on us?" Tony complained and Coulson threw him a baleful look. "I mean we're back to last name status again!"

"Not my fault that that's how I am as an adult."

"People change," Thor commented and Phil looked over to him. "It is good to have you back, Son of Coul."

"It's good to be back," he responded and soon he was immersed in conversation with the rest of them as they made their way back up the stairs. But none of them noticed how Loki hung back, a look of sadness in his eye.

He didn't fit in anymore. the one thing that had bound him to the others now separated them.

Because Phil Coulson was no longer a little boy who was completely innocent and helpless. Phil Coulson was now the man he had stabbed.

**A/N: I'm sorry to break it to you guys, but this next chapter is going to be the last one. :( Childhood Innocence is coming to an end...but it will be a good end, and a happy end and a...you get the point. :)**


	38. Chapter 38: Full Circle

******A/N: ****Had Jack Sparrow's theme by Hans Zimmer playing in my head this whole time...oh lord.** Kimbee, I am SO SORRY! I FORGOT YOUR CRYSTALLIZE PLOT! However, you will find a reference to it in this.

**But here it is. The final chapter of Childhood Innocence. A big thank you, I love you all to every one of my favoriters, reviewers, followers, readers, heck even visitors! THIS CHAPTER IS FOR YOU ALL! GOING TO MISS ALL OF YOU AND WRITING THIS STORY! ENJOY! **

Loki was sitting out on the ledge of the Tower, gazing out over the city skyline. He was bored. There was no little child to come running over, bombard him with questions, and be an otherwise pain in the ass. Admittedly, he had enjoyed all of the questions, the playing around, the goofing off, the running...

Particularly the running. And the violin. But his topic of musing of course had to go and destroy that avenue of entertainment, and he was far too lazy and not to mention drained of magic to conjure up a new one. Instead, he decided he was going to just reflect. Reflecting was good. It made you feel guilty about everything or made you get nostalgic and therefore feel like crying or laughing for no apparent reason.

Okay, maybe reflecting wasn't so good. If you were a weird person who enjoyed inflicting sadness on yourself then yes, but other than that, no, he said to himself and sighed heavily, hunching over to rest his elbows on his knees.

"I know that sound," came a voice and Loki looked over his shoulder to see Coulson walking over to sit beside him. "I've sighed like that far too many times in my life. Recently more than ever," he added slightly chagrined and looked over at Loki. "What's bothering you?"

"Um, you, maybe?" he asked, voice bitter and Phil raised an eyebrow.

"Huh..." he mused and nodded. "I get that." This time, Loki's eyebrows arched, and he turned to look at the boy - no, man, remember that Loki, he told himself - a question in his eyes. "What?" Phil asked defensively.

"What do you get?"

"Oh the fact that you now, quite _illogically_, feel like you can't interact with me because it would be a social taboo to do so." Loki looked back down side of the tower, feigning a great interest in the bug like cars creeping by so far below them. "Come on, I know you aren't interested by cars. You hate them from what I gathered on our outdoor excursions." Loki sighed and looked back over at the agent. "Well?"

"I can't help but feel that this isn't...that this shouldn't go on."

"What us being friends? Talking to each other?" Loki didn't answer but clenched his jaw, and Phil put his hand on his companion's shoulder. "Loki listen to me. You could stab me a thousand times right now, you could throw me off the tower even, but I still wouldn't hate you. I could never hate you. Remember what I told you when I was a kid over the past few months?" Loki raised a single eyebrow.

"Could you be a bit more specific? You talked _quite_ a bit." Phil smirked and nodded.

"Fair enough. When Steve and Tony were arguing above the cupboard under the stairs that I slept in at their Malibu house?" Loki thought back and nodded slowly. "Do you remember how you told me you wouldn't take it hard if I hated you again?"

"I was lying," the god muttered, but to his surprise the agent just nodded.

"Oh trust me, I _knew_ you were lying. But do you remember what I told you?" Loki nodded and was finally forced to verbalize it when Coulson continued to stare at him pointedly, waiting.

"You said that you would never hate me."

"And I still hold to that. No matter what you do, I'll always give you a second, third, fourth, fifth chance. I believe that was something else I told you over the course of this whole thing, on inside, I have something to show you."

"Do I want to know?" the god asked, but allowed himself to take the man's offered hand and got to his feet.

"I think you might." Coulson walked back in, Loki following and the other Avengers offered them brief smiles, probably knowing what they had been talking about. Instead of stopping in the sitting room though, Phil guided him over to the elevator and then up to one of the empty gyms where Maria Hill was waiting, for once not in her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform and with a cello propped up against her. Loki frowned.

"I fail to understand what's going on here."

"I would too in your place," the agent said and walked over to the table, opened a violin case, and threw the instrument through the air so that Loki was forced to catch it. "Recognize that?"

"It's the same one as before...I thought you threw it off the tower," he said wondrously, looking up at his friend. "How did you get it back?"

"Well, actually I didn't," he commented, ever so slightly embarrassed. "I just went out and found a new one. I figured that you coming back from the dead and all would seriously drain you, so you probably wouldn't be able to conjure up a replacement." Loki nodded ruefully.

"Unfortunately true," he conceded and experimentally drew the bow across the strings. "Thank you."

"No problem. Have you ever played a cello?" Loki gave an expression that clearly said, why would I have done that?!

"I think the safe answer in this case is no, Phil," Hill commented and rolled her eyes, earning a similar expression from her coworker. But still Loki was frowning.

"Is _that_ a cello?" Hill nodded and played a quick, jaunty piece before resting the bow against her leg once more in explanation. "You're very skilled."

"Not as skilled as I've heard you are," she answered and Loki shrugged.

"I didn't really learn. I just imitated."

"And then learned," Phil supplied and Loki rolled his eyes. "What?"

"You're starting to regress to how you were as a child," he said and the man shrugged.

"That necessarily a bad thing? Well, I'm going to leave you two to it while I go and talk to Stark and Banner about something." With that, he left the two with each other without a further explanation, leaving them looking very confused. Hopefully they would get the point he was trying to make, but other than that...they were on their own.

"So, Loki. Want to learn another instrument?" Maria asked and Loki looked at her as though he was afraid she was going to attack him with the wooden piece in her hands.

* * *

"Stark, Banner, can I talk to you for a second?" Coulson asked as he walked into the lab and the two of them looked up.

"Yeah sure, Phil, what is it?" Tony asked trying to see if calling the agent by his first name would make him uncomfortable or not. When it didn't, he was slightly disappointed.

"I was wondering if you could alter that thing. You know, for a quick favor." Bruce frowned and took off his glasses, cleaning them in a preoccupied habit.

"Depends, what for?"

"Well, am I the only one who noticed that Steve has been a bit...depressed?" The two scientists looked at each other blankly. "I am, aren't I?" he asked, voice slightly let down. "You know for being a team, the lot of you can be pretty blind."

"I'll try not to be insulted," Tony muttered but Bruce nodded.

"You especially, Tony. Definitely blind." Before the argument could escalate, Coulson cleared his throat, regaining their attention.

"I've been thinking. So, he's mostly lonely, right? Everyone he ever cared for, was friends with, loved...they're either dead or really old." He put careful emphasis on the last two words. A light dawned in Tony's eyes while Banner looked concerned.

"Um, we don't know what that would do to her, Coul- "

"Can you all stop with the Coulson? Phil's fine," the agent interrupted but then waved the radiologist on. "Sorry."

"I was saying was that we don't have any idea what the process will do to her. I might kill her."

'Which is why I want you to _properly_ experiment before trying it on her. I'll go talk to Agent Carter about it okay?"

"She's an _agent_?!" Tony asked, almost askance. Phil raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." And with that, left the room. This was going better than he thought it would.

* * *

Then of course came the hard part. Phil stood in front of the door of the small home, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, before finally raising his hand to knock on the door. An elderly woman that he didn't recognize opened the door. She frowned as she took in his appearance, and Phil mentally kicked himself as he realized that for once he was out of his orderly suit and till in the sweats that had belonged to Steve.

Well then.

This just got awkward.

"I'm Phil Coulson," he said, holding his hand out to her. She eyed it, but didn't take it. "I'm a good friend of Steve's," he elaborated and her eyes shone as she shook his hand and beckoned for him to come in.

"Are you with S.H.I.E.L.D?" she asked, suspicious. "Because if they're trying to recruit me again, they should know that I my original statue stands."

"And that was?" he asked, entertaining her line of conversation.

"Over my dead body." He nodded and weighed his answer.

"I am with S.H.I.E.L.D, but I'm here on a more personal matter, hence the lack of the suit." She laughed as she led him to the sitting room, finally stopping her rather brisk walking for her age to settle in a chair.

"I was wondering why you looked so informal. Sit, sit!" she ordered, gesturing to the sofa behind Phil. He sat down and considered where to start.

And halfway through his explanation, he risked looking up at her and saw that she appeared sad, but determined. When he finally finished his proposition, she rested her head on the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling in thought. The brief moment of waiting stretched out into a long, awkward silence, and the man couldn't have been more relieved when she spoke.

"I lived a long life, Agent Coulson," she began, looking down at her hands and then up at her guest. "It had its moments of happiness. It had its moments of excitement. It even had its moments of love." Phil felt his heart slowly begin to sink as he realized she was going to turn it down. "But overall...it was lonely." Phil tried not to look too hopeful and he was pretty sure he was failing dismally. "I lived a long life of loneliness, Coulson. And I wouldn't want Steve to live a life like that."

"So...will you do it?" he asked, not even trying to hide the hope in his voice. She shrugged.

"I'll have to think about it."

_So, yes, _Phil answered in his mind but didn't dare say that aloud. Even as a ninety-odd year old lady, he could feel that sense of power that seemed to just radiate off of her. No wonder Steve had been slightly afraid of her.

* * *

When Coulson returned home, it was to the sound of cello and violin, meaning that Stark or Clint or Tasha or someone had found Hill and Loki and herded them out of the gym they had been practicing in and they were now performing in the living room by the glass. As soon as the elevator door opened, Pepper looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"Phil! How are you, come in!" she teased and he gave his half smile and walked over to sit on the couch beside them. "Did you seriously go out in the streets dressed like that?" He threw her a baleful look.

"I forgot I was wearing sweats. I'm so used to wearing a suit when I go out," he explained and Pepper nodded, mentally picturing the looks people had given him when he had been walking out on the streets.

"Where _did_ you go by the way?" Clint asked and he shrugged. "Fine, be that way."

"I've always been that way, you should know that," Phil responded and looked over to where Maria and Loki were playing. And raised an eyebrow.

"So apparently you recuperate rather quickly," he said loud enough to be heard over the music and Loki turned to look at him. "Cello? There was only one when I left."

"Oh, right. Yeah, I was able to...sort of create one," he began awkwardly and Steve shook his head.

"Look at the fireplace. We have a surplus of firewood now," he explained and the agent had to cough to cover up his brief laughter as he saw the many mutilated and warped cello bodies that had obviously been Loki's first attempts to materialize them.

"I see..." he said carefully and Nat shook her head.

"You do realize you can laugh around us, Phil? We've been laughing together for the past few months." Instead of responding, he simply shrugged.

"I prefer not to."

"Understandable," Bruce commented and thought for a moment. "Hey, why don't the three of you do a trio in the other room? Phil you can play my piano and they can do the string accompaniment."

"Sure why not," Phil answered and got to his feet, walking over to the other room, Maria and Loki following with their instruments.

That night when they all went to bed, Loki couldn't get that one song they had been playing out of his head. Crystallize or something like that. It made him think of that girl he had seen playing in Central Park and for some reason the song made him think of ice...

He wondered if there were any sort of massive ice cities on Midgard.

He highly doubted it, but he resolved to ask Phil in the morning.

* * *

As the weeks went by, Banner and Stark spent more and more time in the lab and for some reason Pepper, Clint, and Tasha seemed to be very keen in keeping Steve away from there. Loki and Thor talked a lot outside about different things, mostly about how they were going to get back to Asgard, catching up on things that they hadn't said to each other in a long time that probably should have been said.

And then of course there was Phil. No one ever really saw much of him anymore. The moment that Fury found out that he was back in the world of adulthood, he had whisked him away and sent him on at least fifty different missions over the course of three weeks and the rest of the team could tell that the agent was slowly starting to edge closer and closer to the "director I am going to kill you" end of the scale.

And, rather suddenly, things went back to the way they had been before:

Chaotic, unpredictable, but clear as to what was going on in the basics of the scenario.

* * *

"Phil, you're back!" Pepper said happily and gave the man a quick hug, whispering in his ear, "they're in the lab. Steve doesn't know." Again Phil gave that smirk. He broke off the hug as Steve walked around the corner, looking peeved and confused.

"Ah, Couls - sorry, Phil - I'm glad you're here. Maybe you could explain to me why everyone has been laughing at me today?" His expression turned to one of not being amused as the agent and Tony's PA both broke down laughing at his predicament. "Thank you, Phil. Thanks." Finally managing to compose himself, Phil straightened and put a hand on Steve's shoulder, leading him towards the lab. "I thought I wasn't supposed to be in there - "

"Well, now you can," the agent finished and gestured for the super soldier to go down first, him following only a few steps behind with Pepper behind him.

"Capsicle's going to have a heart attack."

"Tony...Don't be like that for this please," came Banner's voice and Thor's loud voice reached the approaching people almost as clearly as though they had been beside him.

"Does the Captain not know about this?"

"No, brother. That's why they were keeping him out of here," Loki responded, slightly acerbic. "When will you grasp the concept of a surprise?"

"Shh, I think he's coming," Clint hissed and he walked over to the stairwell and looked up, locking eyes with Phil and nodding with a slight smirk.

"Okay, what's going on - " Steve began and stopped talking and moving as soon as he had gone two feet from the base of the steps. Peggy, looking just as she had seventy years ago, turned around from where she had been talking with Romanoff and tilted her head to the side, that familiar expression on her face that Steve recognized from whenever she was going to give an order. All around her, the rest of the team were grinning like Cheshire cats, and the World War II veteran could vaguely sense Phil laughing silently behind his back.

"Well then Rogers," she began and that was when Phil discovered what a bad idea it was to stand behind someone when they were receiving a major shock.

"WHOA!" Phil shouted as the super soldier toppled back onto him in a complete faint and sent both of them crashing painfully to the ground, the agent not able to contain his laughter anymore as he simply let it all out to the point where he couldn't breath.

"Oh my god, Steve are you okay?" Peggy called and ran over, leaning into her lover's line of vision. "Steve?" she asked and gingerly went to touch the bruise on the back of his head. "God you are an idiot, Rogers!" she snapped as he opened his eyes and immediately scampered back several feet, crashing into Phil as he did so.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked, completely confused and, finally regaining enough breath so that he could sit up, Coulson pointed to the shrink tank.

"Well you figure it can add years onto you...it can take years away too," he gasped and finally managed to pull himself under control. "You two are the same age now. Both young ninety year olds."

"Don't get smart with me," Steve warned and Phil grinned, getting to his feet and giving the couple some room as they embraced. "Who's idea was this?" he asked and everyone pointed to Phil who suddenly looked very uncomfortable, rather close to how he looked as a child some times.

"You were depressed," he said in defense and Steve just smiled.

"Thanks, Phil. This means so much to us," he said, voice thick with emotion, and the agent just smiled back.

"Well, I was a perceptive kid. That and I eavesdropped on your phone conversations." Peggy laughed into her soldier's shoulder and pulled back from Steve, wiping at the tears in her eyes and laughing.

"Thank you, all of you," she said with heartfelt gratitude and the team smiled.

"Come on. Why don't we all go upstairs before Director Fury comes and yells at us for this," Pepper said and walked up the stairs, leading the way for everyone else to follow. Peggy gently looped her arm in Steve's and the two of them followed Pepper, Clint, and Nat. Thor smiled and dropped his arm around Loki's shoulder, the younger sibling stiffening.

"Thor..." he began and his brother responded with a noncommittal noise. "What did we talk about?" Thor looked down at his brother and beamed.

"I don't know, what did we talk about?" Loki gritted his teeth.

"About you touching me?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, not really sorry, and left Loki's side, walking up the stairs to join the festivities above. Loki looked over at Coulson and shook his head.

"Always has the need to get all touchy-feely in emotional settings. It really bothers me," he explained and Phil nodded.

"I can understand that."

"No, don't pull that one out! You have to disengage this thing first and then you can - "

"Tony?" Phil asked without looking and the two scientists looked up from where they were working on disengaging the shrink tank.

"Yeah?"

"Later, please. Go on up and hang out with Steve and Peggy. Today is kind of an important day for them," he ordered and Banner had to drag Tony up the stairs to get him out of the room. "You coming Loki?"

"In a minute," he said as he stepped onto the platform, examining the contraption.

"Something wrong?" Loki shook his head.

"No. I was just thinking. You know how you said Thanos was the start of all of this?"

"Yeah," Phil answered, voice dark. Loki shook his head yet again. This time it was slow, as though he were contemplating something.

"You were wrong." Phil frowned.

"Beg pardon?" he asked, slightly affronted. Loki straightened and faced the agent, offering his crooked smile.

"It was this. Had you not been a child when I met you, there would have been no way we would have become friends. This machine was what started all of this." Phil nodded in thought.

"Yeah. I guess it was." The two of them stood there, facing each other and the human sighed, walking towards the stairwell. "Fate's a fickle thing. So, I'll see you upstairs momentarily?" Loki nodded and turned around, taking one last look when Phil noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

A spark.

He spun around and saw Dummy playing with the half exposed wiring that Tony and Bruce had been playing with and saw that the robot was plugging things back in. The circuitry sparked again and suddenly the panels flared to life and electricity started building up once more.

"Dummy - WAIT! DON'T DO THAT!"

Phil Coulson slowly lowered his hands from his eyes and looked at the ring of tesla coil looking things and white panels as they coursed with power from the arc reactor. He caught a glimpse of their accidental experiment's results when a lot of wires started sparking and fused together, plunging the whole room into darkness.

"Please tell me I did not just see..." the agent began, only to be cut off by a thundering of footsteps on the stairs.

"What's going on?!" Pepper asked as she stopped halfway down due to the darkness, creating a sort of stumbling, half crash on the steps as people coming down the steps collided.

"JARVIS, reboot the lights in the lab," Tony ordered, a strange feeling settling in his gut. Banner was the same way. In fact, so was everyone. You could literally hear everyone's heartbeats synchronized in the tense silence. This was looking too fam -

With a sudden return of bright white light, everyone's worst fears were confirmed. Slowly, Phil walked forward to stand over the small body blinking rapidly in the sudden bright light.

"Not _again_," he said in a completely defeated tone, and the five year old Loki looked up at him with a completely blank expression.

The End


	39. AN: I Shall Grant You Your Request

**A/N:**

**well then. You lot are a rather persistent bunch...And so, after much deliberation, we have decided to grant you your request. I am happy to say that GirlOfLightning, Maeleana, Amy, Loki Fan 101, FrostedFangirl7413, Lupin fan1, Whisper Your Name, hermoine-amelia-rose1479, and everyone else who cried out, I heard you. **

**There is a sequel to this story and it is called Silence of the Lambs. I don't know when I will be able to continue it past one chapter, though summer vacation is coming up fast. And don't worry, it won't be about psychopathic serial killers; names can be misleading... :P**

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! I SOUNDED LIKE AN ADVERTISEMENT JUST THEN, BUT REGARDLESS THANK YOU!**


End file.
